4 Traditional Holi Recipes

Well, what do you know? Holi is just a hop, skip and a jump away! And, as with most of our festivals, Holi also has some traditional dishes associated with it. Everyone has at least one favourite dish from their childhood to indulge in, whether its puran poli, gujiya, malpua or dahi bhalla.

Want to revisit the old favourites but don’t know how? Allow us to bring you the recipes of the best Holi dishes that will be simple and easy to recreate.

Puran Poli

Mashed chana dal, jaggery and cardamom stuffed in a roti.
The best things in life are definitely this simple!

Ingredients:

1 ¼ Cups	Chana dal (Split Bengal gram)
1 ½ Cups	Grated gur (Jaggery)
½ Tsp.	Green cardamom powder
1 Pinch	Grated nutmeg
1 ½ Cups	Maida (refined flour)
As per taste	Salt
5-6 Tbsp.	Ghee (Clarified butter)
As required	Water

 

• Boil and grind the chana dal. Now heat a pan, and add in the dal, grated jaggery, cardamom powder and nutmeg powder.
• Keep stirring till the mixture dries up and resembles a soft ball. Remove the mixture from the pan, cool it down then divide it into approximately 18 – 20 equal portions.
• Now, for the perfect dough. Take maida, add 1 pinch of salt, 3 – 4 tbsp. of ghee and water to knead into a soft dough. Cover it with a damp cloth and keep aside for at least an hour.
• Divide the dough equally into 18 – 20 balls. Take one ball of dough, flatten it on your hand and fill with one portion of stuffing. Seal the edges and roll it out like a normal roti.
• Repeat this process with the rest of the dough balls.
• Heat a tawa and cook puran poli on both sides with ghee.
• Serve hot with dollops of ghee on top. 
  

Dahi Bhalle

Burst of spicy and tangy chutneys in your mouth along with the refreshingly chilled yogurt creates a tantalising fusion of flavours!

Ingredients:

¾ Cup	Urad dal (Split Black gram)
1	Green chilli
1 inch	Ginger
As per taste	Salt
As required	Oil for deep frying
As required	Green chutney
As required	Tamarind chutney
As required	Roasted cumin powder
As required	Black rock salt
2 Tbsp	Powdered sugar
4 – 5 Cups	Yogurt
1 Tbsp.	Sugar

 

1. Soak the urad dal overnight or for a minimum of 5 - 6 hours. Next, drain the excess water and grind together with green chilli, ginger and salt to a smooth paste.
2. Mix yogurt with sugar and rock salt. Keep it in the fridge to chill.
3. Heat oil for deep frying in a kadai. Make small round-shaped vadas and drop them into the oil one by one. Ensure that the flame is low. Fry the vadas till they turn golden brown, then drain the excess oil.
4. Dip the vadas in water for about 2 minutes, then squeeze the excess water out and keep aside.
5. Now, arrange four vadas in a plate and add sufficient yogurt to cover them. Then drizzle green and tamarind chutney from the top. Finally, sprinkle some roasted cumin powder and serve.
   
   

Malpua

This melt-in-your-mouth pancake dessert is deep fried in ghee, 
and dunked in sugary concoction!

Ingredients:

1 Lt	Milk
300 gm	Sugar
30 gm	Maida (Refined flour)
500 gm	Ghee (Clarified butter)
½ Tsp.	Cardamom powder
2 Tbsp.	Sliced Pistachios
Few strands	Saffron

 

1. Boil milk in a heavy-bottomed pan over medium to low heat, till it reduces to less than half its content. Make sure that you keep stirring and scraping the sides at intervals. Once it reduces, add the cardamom powder and mix it in.
2. After the milk has cooled, mix maida and around 30 gm of sugar in it. Keep this batter aside for 3 – 3.5 hours. You can add in a little milk to achieve the perfect consistency.
3. Heat ghee in a kadai, then pour in the batter to form a pancake or a small-sized dosa. Cook both sides with ghee till golden brown in colour, then drain and keep aside.
4. For the syrup, heat water in a pan, then add around 250 gm of sugar in it. Keep stirring over medium flame till the sugar is fully dissolved. Next, add in 2 – 3 tsp. of milk. This will make the scum appear to the surface, which you need to remove. Also, add the saffron strands now. Once the sugar syrup is sufficiently thickened, turn the flame off and keep it aside.
5. Immerse the warm malpuas in the sugar syrup and serve. Finally, garnish the dish with pistachios.
   
   

Thandai

This crowd-pleaser needs no introduction,
since it is one of the defining elements associated with Holi!

Ingredients:

1 ½ Lt	Full fat milk
1 ½ Cups	Sugar
20	Soaked cashew nuts
30	Blanched and peeled pistachios
30	Blanched and peeled almonds
2-3 Tbsp.	Melon seeds
2-3 Tbsp.	Poppy seeds
10	Cardamoms
2 Tbsp.	Fennel seeds
8-10	Black peppercorns
1 inch	Cinnamon
Few strands	Saffron
25 – 30	Dried rose petals

 

1. Grind together cashew nuts, almonds, melon seeds, pistachios, poppy seeds and fennel seeds in a quality mixer grinder. This is the masala for the drink.
2. Boil milk and add the strands of saffron to it. Once the milk starts to boil, add the sugar and keep simmering till it melts.
3. Grind the cardamoms, cinnamon, black peppercorns and rose petals. Add this fine powder to the milk and simmer for 2 – 3 minutes.
4. Finally, mix in the masala to the milk. Chill the drink and serve.

So, this Holi recreate four classic dishes of your childhood and eat away with gusto!