Malpua

Holi morning in a house in Banaras, and the kadhai has an inch of ghee in it on a medium flame. A ladleful of batter goes in from a low height, straight into the centre, and nobody touches it for forty seconds. It spreads on its own and the edge goes frilly and lacy while the middle stays pale. Hot ghee is spooned over the top. It comes out on a rack, gets a scatter of pistachio, and is eaten before it is really cool enough.

This is the older home version, where the sweetness is in the batter rather than a syrup bath afterwards. Organic Jaggery is dissolved into warm milk and whisked in, and being unrefined it carries a dark caramel note through every bite and browns the malpua beautifully as it fries. Gir Cow's A2 Ghee is the frying fat, the way it always was, and it gives the malpua a nutty richness and the smell that fills the house.

The one thing that decides malpua is the heat of the ghee. Medium, never smoking. Jaggery browns fast, so in ghee that is too hot the outside goes dark in seconds while the centre is still raw batter. Keep the flame moderate and give each one its full two minutes.

How to make it

1. Warm the milk in a pan, take it off the flame and stir the grated jaggery into it till it melts completely. Let it cool to lukewarm, then strain it to catch any grit from the jaggery.
2. In a bowl, mix the maida, atta, rava, saunf, cardamom, pepper and salt. Pour in the jaggery milk in three goes, whisking each time, so no lumps form. Whisk in the khoya and saffron milk if using.
3. The batter should coat the back of a spoon and fall in a slow ribbon, thinner than idli batter and thicker than dosa batter. Add a spoon of milk or flour to get there.
4. Cover and rest the batter for 45 minutes to an hour at room temperature. The rava swells and the malpua turns soft in the middle instead of chewy. Stir the baking soda in just before frying.
5. Heat about an inch of ghee in a small, deep kadhai on medium. Drop in a bit of batter to test. It should sink briefly, then rise steadily and start bubbling. If it browns at once, the ghee is too hot.
6. Pour in a ladleful of batter from a low height, straight into the centre. Do not touch it for 40 seconds. It will spread into a round with a lacy, frilly edge on its own.
7. Spoon hot ghee over the top of the malpua while it fries. When the base is deep golden and the top loses its shine, about 1 minute, flip it gently and fry the other side for 45 seconds to a minute.
8. Lift it out on a slotted spoon, hold it against the side to drain, and set it on a rack rather than paper so the edges stay crisp. Fry the rest, two at a time.
9. Scatter the slivered nuts on top and serve hot, on its own or with a spoon of thick rabri on the side.

Tips

• Eat them hot. Malpua is at its best in the first 20 minutes. It keeps a day in an airtight box at room temperature, but never in the fridge, which turns it hard and chewy.
• Make ahead: the batter can rest in the fridge overnight. Bring it back to room temperature and add the baking soda just before you fry.
• Want the classic syrup version? Skip the jaggery in the batter, use ½ cup milk more, and dip the fried malpuas for 30 seconds in a warm one-string syrup made from 150 g jaggery and ½ cup water.
• Edges not turning lacy? The batter is too thick or the ghee is too shallow. The malpua needs to float, not sit on the base of the pan.
• Strain the jaggery milk. Even good jaggery carries a little sediment, and it is the thing that sticks and burns in the ghee.