Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Badampak er Shengdanepak



Kiran Desai wins a Booker for The Inheritance of Loss the news flashed on the TV. I had never heard of her before but a closer look at the TV screen and I mumbled I guess she is Anita Desai's daughter. Yes google confirmed it. In many ways I learnt Kiran is chip of the old block and has gone ahead and achieved what her mother just missed. Anita Desai is one writer I loved as a child. I loved Indian English novels more than Shakespeare-Agatha Christie as they had alien settings. Other thing is I became famous in my class VIII as someone having a native place called Thal pronounced as Thul near Alibag across the Mumbai harbour. Anita Desai had set her novel "The Village by the sea" in Thul. She has gone with the pronounciation to spell it in the novel. I was the first one to read this book as soon as it was added to the school library. Then I wrote a review of it in the school magazine and was famous overnight. All the girls would dreamily ask me "Oh is Thul so beautiful? Lets go there for the annual picnic." The novel has an undertone of sadness as Hari the protogonist struggles in life along with with his sister Lila. However that seemed far away for the elite class in my school. To them it was romantic to be poor and struggling and that was a sure shot attraction. I gave my expert comment too in my review I remember about the cover of the book. Lila if she is a fisherman's daughter would never cover her head with a cloth. That girl looks like she is from a village in Gujarath or Rajasthan! Inspite of the incorrect minor details "The Village by the Sea" is eloquent about Thal and a must read. Its a book close to my heart.


So today I am going to give a recipe of a sweet called Badampak that is uniquely Thal. I haven't heard of this one anywhere else. There are two Grocer's families which make it really well in the village. Though it is called badampak it is actually a shengadanepak. May be in the old days people used badam but now they use shengdane. I am going to make this sweet to make my Diwali unique though it is not a traditional Diwali sweet.



Ingredients

1 cup peanuts

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

4-6 cardamoms ground

Soak peanuts in water overnight after washing them thoroughly. Next morning grind them to coarse powder and keep aside.


Next prepare the pak or the sugar syrup in a vessel. The sugar is boiled with 1/2 cup water. The syrup is ready if it has achieved one string consistency. To check this dip your thumb in the syrup and hold it between the second finger. It should have a sticky string between the thumb and finger.


Now mix the soaked peanut powder in the syrup and stir. Add the powdered cardamom into the mix and stir. Pour it out in a greased tray. The layer should be about an inch thick. Let it cool and then cut while still warm into daimond shapes. But eat them after a day for best taste.

(Added  the new picture today on 14th April 2012, have made it for the blogger friend Pradnya of Evolving Taste, Harini of Tongue Ticklers and Saee of My Jhola.)

5 comments:

  1. Stumbled on to your blog...love your detailed descriptions of your native village and the fisherfolk. I want to make this sweet for Diwali, but have a few questions for you. I'm sure you are busy with your Diwali preparations as well, so even if you don't get to respond soon, please respond when you get some time.
    - Should I dry the peanuts that have been soaked overnight? Maybe on a towel in the shade? Otherwise not sure how to powder the peanuts, because the water soaked peanuts would be ground to a paste by my Sumeet mixie.
    - Since I prefer almonds to peanuts, other than soaking the almonds and removing the brown cover, is there any other step that needs to be changed?
    - About the final consistency of the sweet, is it hard to bite into like peanut chikki, or is it soft like mysore pak?

    Thanks for taking the time to share your world with us. Looking forward to many more entertaining posts from you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Welcome Vidya. Just drain the peanuts through a sieve and run the grinder for a minute mix and run again. Keep it coarse but don't worry even if it becomes a fine paste.

    I haven't tried with almonds but I guess you dont need to change anything else. Just adjust the sugar as per your taste. It would be like mysore pak you get in the south India. The reason I am saying this is mysore pak in north India is hard.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Got it now. This is more of a burfi. I have tried it too. Love anything with peanuts.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In Maharashtra barfi is with mawa. We call it either pak or vadi not barfi for sure

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    2. True. Even in UP such mithai are called Katli if made using nuts. But Besan ki burfi is burfi as there is some part khoya in it :-)

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