Recipe for Pakwan
Ingredients
- 1 (approx. 150 gm) cup refined wheat flour (maida)
Traditionally, this recipe uses maida. However, if you so wish, you can use wheat flour or a 50:50 or 75:25 combination of wheat flour and maida.
- Salt to taste
- 1 teaspoon black pepper (mari)
- (optional) 1 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)
- (optional) 1 teaspoon carom seeds (ajma)
- 3 tablespoon ghee
- Water
Method
Take refined wheat flour on a plate and sprinkle the required amount of salt in it. Then add black pepper to this flour. Then rub cumin and carom seeds with your hand to slightly crush them and add them to the flour. If you don’t like cumin or carom seeds, you can skip adding them. Now heat the ghee till it is lukewarm and add to this mixture. Making the ghee lukewarm helps in making the pakwan crispy. Instead of ghee, vegetable oil can also be used if you so prefer; just make sure to heat the oil to a lukewarm temperature before adding. Ghee will be a better choice if the crispiness of the pakwan is a requirement.
Now, mix the above mixture using your hand, and then take a lump in your hand and tighten your fist (see the image below). If the impression of your fingers stays in place on the lump, then the consistency of the ghee is proper. If the flour separates out, then you need to add more ghee to the mixture.
Now, keep adding water to the mixture and knead a tight dough. Once the dough is prepared, add one spoon of ghee and knead it once more to make it soft. Now cover the dough and let it rest for 30 minutes. After the rest, take out small-sized balls from the dough.
Using a rolling pin, flatten these balls in the circular shape of a puri. Now, take a knife or a fork and poke the circular puri to create small holes. This prevents the puri from getting puffed while frying and also ensures that the internals of the puri is also properly fried. See the video below for visual instructions.
Fry this flattened puri on a slow flame till it is brownish in color. While frying, keep pressing the puri with a skimmer to avoid puffing. Your first pakwan is ready! Now similarly prepare other pakwans from the other balls taken out from the dough.
Recipe for Dal
Ingredients
- 1 cup split chickpeas (chana dal)
- Salt to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 1/2 glass water
- 2 tablespoon ghee
- 1 spoon cumin seeds (jeera)
- 1/4 teaspoon asafoetida (hing)
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger paste
- 1 teaspoon green chilly paste
- 8-10 curry leaves (kadi patta)
- 1 tablespoon red chilly powder
- 1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1/2 teaspoon Kitchen King masala
- 1/2 teaspoon raw mango powder (aamchur powder)
- 2-3 tablespoon coriander
Method
First, wash the split chickpeas (referred to as dal from here on) 2-3 times with water. Then add 2 glasses of water and soak it for 2-3 hours. This soaking helps speed up the cooking process later on. Now, rinse away the water and take the dal into a pressure cooker. Add salt, turmeric powder, and 1 1/2 glass of water to the cooker. Salt helps in properly cooking the dal, and turmeric powder adds to the color. Stir the mixture and then close the lid of the cooker and let it heat on a medium flame till you hear 5 whistles. Now, reduce the flame, and wait for 1 more whistle before turning off the gas. Now, let the cooker cool off.
Now, heat ghee in a pan. Once the ghee is hot, add cumin seeds. Once the cumin seeds are roasted, add asafoetida and curry leaves. Then add green chilly paste and ginger paste and stir. Then add the boiled dal to this mixture and stir. Now, add all the masalas and powders listed in the ingredients to this mixture. Stir and let this mixture boil for 5 minutes. If required, you can add some more water to this mixture. Then turn off the gas and sprinkle coriander on the top.
Recipe for Serving
Ingredients
- 1 cup green chutney
- 1 cup garlic chutney
- 1 cup sweet chutney (meethi chutney)
- 1 cup finely chopped onions
- 1 cup finely chopped tomatoes
- 1 cup nylon sev
- Chaat masala
Serving Method 1
Take the dal prepared previously in a bowl. Add green chutney, garlic chutney, and sweet chutney to this dal as per your taste and preferences. Then sprinkle finely chopped onions and tomatoes on the dal. Then sprinkle chaat masala and nylon sev on top. Place the pakwan next to this bowl and serve.
Serving Method 2 (Chaat style)
Either take a full pakwan or break the pakwan into small pieces and take these pieces on a plate. Add dal on top. Add green chutney, garlic chutney, and sweet chutney on top. Sprinkle finely chopped onions and tomatoes. Then sprinkle chaat masala and nylon sev. Optionally spray some lemon juice on top. Thus, this dal pakwan gets served like sev puri.
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