Indian sweets a lucrative business

On the Debe Main Road there are five shops set up side by side displaying a tempting array of Indian sweets. These shops open from as early as 8 am and close at 8 pm. The Mungal family has been selling sweets for more than 60 years from this location.

The business began with Sugandaye Mungal who lost her husband while she was quite young. She managed to maintain her family by selling kurma and gujiya. Today her sons have taken over, with large shops marketing sweets on a whole and retail basis.

Michelle Gopee, well-known in Penal for making delicious sweets, said there is a big demand for sweets, which make a good desert for big functions. “Many of the big businesses and organisations make big orders for functions that they may be having for staff members or for other public events,” she said.

She sad the most popular Indian sweets are mithai or kurma, barfi, ladoo, gulab jamun, jelabhi and rasgoola. For the upcoming Divali celebrations, there is a big demand for sweets from Gopee and other businesses in the Penal area. She noted Indians are especially fond of sweets, which are also used as part of puja perfromed for Hindu marriages and other devotional celebrations. Here are some of Gopee’s recipes

Jelabhi

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour

11/2 tbsp fine grained semolina or rice flour

1/4th tsp baking powder

2 tbsp curd (plain yogurt)

11/4th cups warm water

1/2 tsp saffron threads, slowly dry-roasted and powdered

3 cups sugar

2 2/3rd cups water

1/2 tsp green cardamom seeds powder

11/2 tbsp kewra water or rose water

Ghee or vegetable oil for frying

Method:

Mix the flour, semolina or rice flour, baking powder, curd and 3/4 cup of the water in a bowl (preferably a ceramic bowl). Mix well with a whisk, then add remaining water and 1/8th tsp of saffron powder, and whisk until smooth. Set aside for about two hours to ferment. Whisk thoroughly before use. Prepare one string syrup by dissolving sugar in the water. Just before the syrup is ready add saffron and cardamom powder. Heat oil in a kadhai. Pour the batter in a steady stream (or coconut shell with a hole) into the kadhai to form coils. Make a few at a time. Deep fry them until they are golden and crisp all over but not brown. Remove from the kadhai and drain on kitchen paper and immerse in the syrup. Leave for at least 4-5 minutes so that they soak the syrup. Take the jalebhi out of syrup and serve hot.

Kurma

Ingredients

2 kg flour

500 gm butter/margarine

1 tin condensed milk

1 tin evaporated milk and 1 tin of water mixed

Ground spices to taste – cinnamon, elaichi (cardamom) and clove

6 tablespoons finely grated ginger (or as desired)

Oil for frying

1 kg granulated sugar (plus 1 cup)

Method:

Mix flour and margarine completely until it looks like fine breadcrumbs. Add half the tin of condensed milk, half the ginger and the evaporated milk and water and mix well. Knead the dough until it is smooth.

Separate the dough into 4 balls and knead again until smooth and allow to rest. Put oil to heat in a heavy pot. Roll out a ball to ? inch thick and cut into 1 ? inch strips. Roll these strips slightly into ropes, and cut at an angle into 1 ? inch pieces. Alternatively, don’t roll into a rope but cut the strips, turning/twisting the strip after each cut. Fry the pieces in batches until golden brown. Repeat for each ball. Leave the kurma in a large basin to cool and continue until all the balls are fried as directed above.

Divide the unsugared Kurma into two or three basins and have sturdy spoons for mixing.

For the Paag (Sugar Syrup):

Put sugar and one cup of water to boil in a large pot with the remaining ginger until the sugar mixture spins a thread when dropping from a spoon.

At this stage add the remaining half tin of condensed milk and boil again until the mixture spins a thread. Divide this mixture equally between the basins and stir continuously until the kurma is evenly coated. You’ll need help to mix all kurma at the same time or the paag will harden. Transfer to another bowl or tray to spread out a bit so that the kurma doesn’t clump together.

Rasgoola

Ingredients:

1 litre milk

1 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice

1 tsp plain flour

1/4 tsp baking soda (optional)

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

Method:

In a deep pan take milk and heat it over medium heat until it is about to boil. Add vinegar and stir well. Paneer will separate out. Drain off all the water and wash paneer with fresh water. Transfer the paneer in a muslin cloth and twist it to drain out all the water. Put the paneer in a bowl, add the flour and baking soda (optional) and knead with the palm of your hand to make it smooth and soft.

Make small balls of paneer of about 1 inch size. Put aside covered with a cloth. Dissolve the sugar in the water and boil it over gentle heat to make a syrup. Put the balls in half of the boiling syrup for 10-15 minutes over medium heat. When the balls float to the surface, remove from heat. Alternatively, take rasgoolas in half the syrup in a pressure cooker and cook for about 5 minutes. Drain and put the rasgoolas in the remaining syrup.