Kada Prasad

Four ingredients, no spices, nothing to hide behind. Kada prasad is the sweet served in every gurdwara, and the whole dish is really a test of the ghee — if the ghee is good the halwa tastes like it, and if it is not, there is nowhere for that to hide.

The gurdwara ratio is 1 : 1 : 1 : 3 — equal parts atta, ghee and sugar, with three times as much water. Learn that and you never need to measure again.

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole wheat atta (about 130 g)
• 1 cup Gobind Ghee (about 220 g)
• 1 cup sugar (about 200 g)
• 3 cups water

Method

1. Put the sugar and water into a pan and set it over medium heat. You want it to just come to a boil — no thread consistency, no reduction. Turn the heat to its lowest setting and leave it there while you do the rest.
2. Melt the ghee in a heavy kadhai or wide pan over low to medium heat. Use the heaviest pan you own; atta catches quickly in a thin one.
3. Add the atta all at once and start stirring. Keep it moving constantly with a flat spatula, scraping the base.
4. Roast for 12 to 15 minutes on low. The atta will go from pale and pasty to loose and sandy, then turn a deep golden brown. When the kitchen smells nutty and the mixture starts to release ghee at the edges, it is ready. This is the whole dish — do not rush it and do not walk away.
5. Take the pan off the heat for a moment. Pour in the hot sugar water in a steady stream, standing back — it will hiss and steam violently.
6. Return to low heat and stir hard. It will look alarmingly loose, then thicken all at once. Keep stirring for 3 to 4 minutes until it comes together in a glossy mass and pulls away from the sides of the pan.
7. Serve hot, straight from the pan.

The ghee note

A full cup of ghee sounds like a lot, and it is — but this is the one recipe where cutting it does not work. The ghee is both the cooking medium and the flavour, and the roasting stage depends on having enough of it for the atta to move freely. Add it cold at the start and let it melt with the pan; never add ghee to already-roasting atta.

Tips

• Keep the sugar water hot when it goes in. Cold liquid makes the atta seize into lumps.
• If lumps do form, keep stirring on low — they almost always work out.
• The traditional version has no cardamom, no nuts, no saffron. Add them if you like, but that is a different dish.

Substitutions

Jaggery can replace the sugar — use the same weight, dissolve it in the water and strain out the grit before it goes in. The colour will be darker and the flavour more molasses-like. Nothing sensible replaces the ghee.

Storage

Best within a few hours of making. It will keep covered at room temperature for a day, or refrigerated for three; reheat gently with a splash of water and a small spoon of ghee to bring it back.

Serving

Traditionally served warm in the palm. At home, a small bowl with a spoon, on its own, while it is still hot.

Nutrition

Approximately 380 kcal per serving, based on six servings. These are estimates for a rich, occasional sweet, not laboratory values.