Let’s count the reasons why the Malpua with Banana & Ricotta Cheese is Sinful. It is filled with whole milk Ricotta cheese, it is deep fried in ghee and then dipped in a sugar syrup. All those things make it sinful. Now let’s see the reasons why it is oh so delicious. Well.. all the sinful reasons!
For the above mentioned reasons I make this only once a year, on Holi – the festival of colors celebrated to mark the beginning of a new season. It is quite a fun festival to celebrate. It usually starts with making all the food for the festivity in advance as there really is no time to do something later once you start playing. And then a friend lands at your door, you open the door and the friend splashes ‘Gulal‘ ( cornstarch or some other flour is colored with vegetable and fruit dyes and applied on people) on you and you do the same. You try your best to not get the homes drenched in color, so when someone knocks, you just go out and play. Then you invite the friend in and share some of the goodies you made. Then you join the friend and go to another friend’s house and the circle of friends keeps getting bigger and happier. There are many stories about why Holi is celebrated, but this is the one I chose to share.
While it has been years since I last went out and played with colors, I still do make one or two traditional dishes, if not all. It keeps me rooted to where I am from and helps make memories.
There are many traditional recipes to make Malpua, the Malpua with Banana & Ricotta Cheese is not one of them. But this is the one I love and this is the one I chose to share.
Till we meet next
Stay Blessed
Ansh
Malpua with Banana & Ricotta Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 very ripe banana
- 1 C whole wheat flour
- 1 C milk
- 3 tbs ricotta cheese
- 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
- ghee for frying
- 1/4 c water if needed
Sugar syrup (chashni)
- 2 C sugar
- 2 C water
- a few strands saffron
For garnish : - a few chopped nuts
Instructions
Make the batter :
- In a bowl mash the bananas and then mix everything together.
- I usually just use a hand blender and mix. The consistency should be like a pancake batter, so use water if your batter looks thick.
- Keep this aside for about an hour.
Make the (sugar syrup)
- In a heavy pan, put together sugar, water, cardamom powder and the saffron
- Bring to a boil on high heat.
- Once it starts boiling, switch to medium heat and let simmer until the syrup thickens – about 15 minutes
- At this point do a consistency check -What you want is a single thin string consistency
- Stir the syrup with a spoon and then lift the spoon up – lift a tiny amount of the syrup with your forefinger and press the forefinger to your thumb.
- Now gradually separate the thumb and the forefinger – if the sugar syrup is of ‘one string’ consistency, you should be able to see a single string between your thumb and forefinger. You do not want a thick string for the Malpua.
- Once you achieve this consistency, your sugar syrup is ready.
- Add in three to four Tbs of water to this, bring to a quick boil and keep this warm until further use.
The frying
- Take a small wok/ medium kadai and heat ghee, you will need about a cup of ghee to heat.
- Once it is hot, reduce temperature to medium high and pour 1/4 C of batter into the ghee to fry.
- Once it fries up on one side it will be easy to flip over and cook on the other side.
- Remove from ghee, immerse in sugar syrup for a couple of seconds, lift up carefully and place on a wire rack or plate, garnish with dry fruits of choice.
- Let them rest a few minutes before serving. Best served within a couple of hours of frying. These do not store well.