Panjiri

Panjiri is warming food in the medicinal sense — dry ginger, gond and a great deal of ghee, made in the cold months and traditionally given to new mothers through the weeks after birth. Everybody else eats it by the spoonful straight from the tin.

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole wheat atta (about 260 g)
• 1 cup Gobind Ghee, plus 3 tbsp for the gond
• ½ cup gond (edible gum crystals)
• 1 cup powdered sugar or grated gur
• 2 tbsp saunth (dry ginger powder)
• ½ cup melon seeds (magaz)
• ½ cup almonds, ½ cup cashews, both chopped
• ¼ cup makhana (fox nuts), optional
• 1 tsp cardamom powder

Method

1. Heat the 3 tbsp ghee and fry the gond in batches until every piece puffs up completely. Cool and crush coarsely.
2. In the same pan, lightly roast the nuts, the melon seeds and the makhana. Set aside.
3. Melt the cup of ghee in a heavy kadhai on low heat. Add the atta.
4. Roast on low, stirring constantly, for 25 to 30 minutes. Atta burns from the base and it burns fast. Keep scraping. It is ready when it turns golden brown and smells nutty.
5. Take off the heat and let it cool until warm, not hot.
6. Stir in the saunth, cardamom, gond, nuts and seeds.
7. Only once it has cooled further, fold in the sugar or gur. Adding it to hot atta makes it seize.
8. Store loose in a tin, or add a little extra warm ghee and press into ladoos.

The ghee note

Panjiri is roasted flour held together by ghee — there is no other liquid in it. Fry the gond in ghee rather than oil so the flavour runs through the whole mix, and keep 2 to 3 extra tablespoons aside in case the mixture looks dry when you come to shape it.

Tips

• Gond must puff right through. Any hard glassy centre will stick to your teeth.
• Low heat throughout. There is no way to rescue burnt atta.
• Saunth is what makes it warming. Do not swap it for fresh ginger.

Substitutions

Gur instead of sugar gives a deeper flavour. Walnuts work alongside or instead of almonds. For the postpartum version, kamarkas and ajwain are traditionally added — ask an elder in the family rather than the internet.

Storage

An airtight tin at room temperature for up to a month. Do not refrigerate.

Serving

Two spoonfuls with hot milk in the morning, all winter.

Nutrition

Approximately 210 kcal per 2-tablespoon serving. Estimated values.