Executive Chef Gautam Mehrishi from the Renaissance Mumbai hotel sent us the recipe.
IMAGE: Nariyal Malai Ghevar. Photographs: Kind courtesy Renaissance Mumbai
Ghevar, a traditional mithai from Rajasthan, is shaped like a honeycomb and is a true symbol of the united bonds of love the culture of India depicts.
This traditional dessert from North India gets a tribute from South India with a touch of coconut which symbolises purity, fertility and blessings.
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 60 minutes
Serves: 4 to 5 persons
Ingredients
For the batter
- 100 ml ghee
- 4 to 5 ice cubes (please dig into your deep freezer)
- 200 gm all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup whole milk, cold
- Ice cold water as required
- Ghee for deep frying
To make sugar syrup
- 200 gm sugar
- 400 ml water
- 7 to 8 saffron strands
To make coconut kesari rabri
- 1 tbsp ghee
- 500 ml milk
- 5 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp cardamom powder
- 1 cup desiccated coconut
- 7-8 saffron strands soaked in 2 tbsp hot milk
For garnish
- Chopped pistachio, almond, silver leaf and dried rose petals
Method
To make sugar syrup
- In a pan, heat sugar, water and allow it to boil till you get a stringed syrup consistency.
- Keep this aside.
To make kesari rabri
- In a pan, heat some ghee.
- Add coconut and stir to fry. Slowly add milk.
- When it boils, add sugar and keep stirring till it thickens to get the right consistency.
- Add saffron. Mix well and keep aside.
To make ghevar
- Add ghee in a large mixing bowl.
- Add ice cubes and whip with a whisk or rub vigorously until the ghee becomes white, light and fluffy.
- Add flour, 1/4 cup water, 1/2 cup chilled milk and whisk to make a lump free smooth batter.
- Add 1/2 cup water and 1/4 cup milk to this batter, and whisk together to achieve a batter with thick and pouring consistency.
- Fill a deep pan half with ghee and heat it on high flame. When the ghee is smoky hot, take a ladle full of batter.
- Pour little by little slowly in a thread like a stream into the centre of the pan.
- When the batter settles, make a hole in the centre by removing the batter from the centre with the back of a ladle or a spatula.
- Pour 5-6 more ladleful batter in the hole formed in centre repeating the same steps.
- Once the pouring is done, start pressing the ghevar slightly inside the ghee using the back of a spatula. Once ghevar turns golden in colour, loosen it with a skewer inserted in the hole.
- Lift it carefully, place it on wire mesh to drain the excess oil.
- Place bowl on a large plate and put the ghevar on top of the bowl.
- Pour sufficient amount of sugar syrup evenly all over and let it stay there for 2 minutes to drain excess syrup.
- Spread rabri and garnish with chopped nuts, silver leaf, and rose petals.
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