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India is replete with festivals. Right from the beginning of the year, there are a series of festivals that take place and adorn our calendars. Given the diversity in the country, each culture has their own rituals and customs. For instance, Janmashtami is a much-celebrated festival of the Hindus. Marked as the birth anniversary of Lord Krishna, many delicious prasads are prepared on this day.
A lavish Chhappan Bhog (56-course meal) is prepared to be offered to the lord and several sweet meats are a part of this elaborate feast. Prasads like Gopalkala, Charanamrit and Panjiri are quintessential Janmashtami sweets. Another lesser-known sweet which forms part of the bhog is Makhana Paag. This interesting sweet is made with four ingredients and is not your usual Indian mithai.
Makhana Paag
While makhan mishri is also a delightful treat and a favourite of Lord Krishna, what makes this prasad so good is the fact that it has nutritional values of lotus seeds along with the goodness of powdered sugar. The lord is believed to be a lover of churned butter and all things creamy and sweet. In fact, that is one of the reasons that dahi handi is a popular ritual performed on Janmashtami.
Ready in a jiffy, the Makhana Paag Prasad is prepared with basic ingredients found in the kitchen pantry like lotus seeds, coconut, powdered sugar and ghee. The rich and delicious holy sweet can be prepared easily at home.
Here’s the recipe for Makhana Paag Prasad.
Ingredients:
• 1 cup lotus seeds
• 300 grams sugar
• Ghee
• Edible gum
• Cashew nuts
• Melon seeds
Method:
• Begin by frying nuts like almonds and cashews in ghee.
• Add kironji to this. Then, add fry the edible gum separately.
• Next, fry lotus seeds and melon seeds.
• Meanwhile, prepare the thick chashni with ghee and sugar along with water in a pan.
• Sprinkle the fried items on this and spread the mixture on a plate.
• Slice into smaller pieces and serve.
