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Gudi Padwa 2022: Gudi Padwa, observed on the first day of Chaitra month is an auspicious occasion for people of Maharashtra. Also known as Samvatsar Padvo, it is the first day of the year for people of Maharashtra and Konkan region. The beginning of the harvest season is celebrated with much pomp and show and lip-smacking traditional food is prepared to mark the day.
On this day, people wake up early in the morning, decorate their houses with rangolis and install a 'Gudi' at the front gate which is known to ward off evil and invite prosperity. It is followed by a traditional feast with items like basundi, puran poli, modaks and shrikhand to name a few.
This year Gudi Padwa will be celebrated on April 2, the same day when Chaitra Navratri also begins. Here are some mouth-watering festive recipe you can try making at home.
1) Vermicelli Kheer
Recipe by Swapnadeep Mukherjee, Executive Chef, The Metropolitan Hotel & Spa
Ingredients
Vermecili - 100 gm
Desi ghee - 10 gm
Milk full cream - 400 ml
Almonds - 10 gm
Sugar - 50 gm
Cashewnut - 20 gm
Cardamom - 0.5 GM
Method
* Wash vermicelli and put it in a sauce pan along with ghee and stir for 2 minutes
* Add milk and sugar and stir well
* Simmer for about 1 hour or till milk reduces to half and of creamy consistency
* During this period stir from time to time
* Add almonds and cashewnuts
* Sprinkle crushed cardamom
* Serve hot or cold
2. Puran Poli
Recipe by Dayal Singh Negi, Chef at Foodya, Noida Sector 63
Ingredients
For the stuffing:
* 1 cup of chana dal/bengal gram (washed and soaked)
* 3 cups of water
* 1 cup of jaggery
* 1 tsp cardamom powder
* ½ cup ghee
For the dough:
* 2 cups of refined flour (you can mix it with whole wheat flour)
* A pinch of salt
* 2 tbsp ghee
* 1 cup water
Preparation of the stuffing:
Add chana dal and water in a pressure cooker and let it cook for 3-4 whistles. After draining, take the coarsely mashed chana dal in a pan and add the jaggery and ghee. Sprinkle some cardamom and let it cook gently on a low flame. Cool the mixture once dry.
Final Preparation:
* Knead the flour, water and ghee into a bowl, and leave the dough for half an hour.
* Break the dough into round balls and roll each into a flat chapati. Dust the flat dough with some flour and add a generous amount of the sweet stuffing.
* Cover the edges of the dough and roll it flat again. Heat the pan and grease generously with ghee. Place
the flatbread on top of the pan, and cook evenly on both sides. Dress the puran polis with some extra ghee as desired. Serve hot.
3. Paneer Basundi
Recipe by Thayanithy Tamilarasu, Sr. Sous Chef, Signature Club Resort, Brigade Group
Ingredients
Milk – 1 litre (full cream)
Paneer – 100 g
Sugar – ¼ Cup
Almonds – 4 (chopped)
Cashew nut – 4 (chopped)
Pista – 4 (chopped)
Saffron – 4 strands
Cardamom Powder – 1 pinch
Method:
* Boil milk on low flame in a thick bottomed pan for about 10-12 minutes until it reduces to quarter the volume (the milk should rise 4 to 5 times).
* Stir continuously while the milk is boiling. After the milk thickens add in roughly smashed paneer and boil for 2 to 3 minutes. Add in diced almonds, cashew nuts and pisa.
* Add sugar and mix until it dissolves. Add saffron strands and mix well until the colour changes to light cream. Add cardamom powder mix. Serve Paneer Basundi garnished with slivers of nuts either chilled or hot.
4. Milk Mawa Barfi
Recipe by Swapnadeep Mukherjee, Executive Chef, The Metropolitan Hotel & Spa
Ingredients
Milk powder -200 gm
Fat free milk - 150 ml
Cardamom seeds powdered - 0.5 gm
Sugar - 100 gm
Method
* Mix all the ingredients in a flat bowl.
* Put the bowl in a microwave for 7-8 minutes, switch off the microwave every 2 minutes and stir well.
* Let the mixture cool for 3-4 minutes. Add sugar and mix it well
* Put all the mixture in a flat tray and let it cool to a temperature which is comfortable to touch. Make a dough of the mixture and roll on a flat tray with a rolling pin or press by hand
* After about 2 hours, cut the burfi in diamond or square shape
5. Beetroot Modak
Recipe by Swapnadeep Mukherjee, Executive Chef, The Metropolitan Hotel & Spa
For Modak
Ingredients
Besan or gram flour - 2 cup
Rava/semolina/suji (fine) - 2 tbsp
Beetroot colour or two oven cooked beetroot paste - ¼ tsp
1½ cup water
Oil for frying
For Sugar Syrup
Ingredients
Sugar - 1 cup
Water - ½ cup
Cardamom powder - ¼ tsp
Lemon juice - ½ tsp
Cashew/kaju (chopped) - 2 tbsp
Preparation of Modak Mixture
* Take a bowl and mix the above modak ingredients with water, let it sit for 30 mins
* Prepare oil for frying and use perforated spoon to jerk and make small globules
* Make sure it is slow cooked and deep fried, remove from the oil and place it in paper towel to remove oil.
* Cool down to mix it with sugar syrup
Method
* To the hot sugar syrup, add above prepared modak mixture
* Continue cooking for 2 -3 minutes or until when sugar syrup thickens
* Cover and keep aside for 10 minutes
* After 10 minutes, sugar syrup is absorbed completely by mixture
* Add 2 tbsp cashew and 2 tbsp pistachios. Mix Well
* When the mixture is dried and all the sugar syrup is absorbed, prepare modak taking a small amount of mixture. Add milk, if required to moisten modak
* Finally, modak is ready to be served or can be refrigerated for a week
