Mohanthaal is a delicious festival sweet from the western Indian state of Gujarat and is a fixture on the Diwali menu.
Ingredients:
Coarse Gram Flour 2 cups
Ghee
Ghee 3/4 cup + tablespoon
Milk 3 tablespoons
Green cardamom powder 1/4 teaspoon
Nutmeg powder large pinch
Sugar 1 1/2 cups
Saffron (kesar) 5-6 strands
Almonds blanched, slivered 10
Pistachios blanched slivered 10
Method
Place the gram flour in a bowl. Heat a non stick pan, add one and half tablespoons ghee and two tablespoons milk and warm slightly. Add this to the gram flour and mix with fingertips till the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Pass through a thich sieve to get a smooth mixture.
Grease a thali. Soak the saffron in one tablespoon of warm milk for ten minutes. Heat the remaining ghee in a thick bottomed non stick pan. Add the gram flour mixture and cook on medium heat till it is fragrant and darker in colour.
Add half the green cardamom powder and nutmeg powder to the gram flour and mix. Take the pan off the heat and keep stirring till the mixture cools completely.
Meanwhile in a separate non stick pan, cook the sugar and half a cup of water to make a syrup of one and a half string consistency. Add the saffron flavoured milk to the syrup and mix well.
Add the syrup to the gram flour mixture and stir continuously, till all the liquid is absorbed and the mixture thickens and becomes a little dry.
Pour the mixture into the thali and spread evenly till the top is smooth. Sprinkle the almonds and pistachios. Sprinkle the remaining green cardamom powder and set aside to cool. Cut into squares and serve.
Recipe courtesy: Sanjeev Kapoor