Traditional Indian Snacks Recipes for Holi

The festival of colours is just round the corner and we’ve got one of our very valued readers – Pallavi Mehta share some traditional recipes from Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

We’re a big fan of Rajasthani cuisine and usually during winters, one of the major lunches at Pallavi’s house is the super delicious Daal-Baati. But that is for another time, for now here are some fantastic recipes for Holi, take a look:

1. Dahivada

Ingredients

• 1 katori urad daal
• Salt tastewise
• Cooking oil
• Fresh curd
• Mithi chutney (Imli & khajoor chutney)
• Green chutney (coriander chutney)
• Rock Salt, red chilliy powder and jeera powder for sprinkle

Method:

1. Soak urad dal one and half hour before. Then remove extra water and grind it as fine paste.
2. Meanwhile keep water in one container on flame , we require lukewarm water so put off gas as soon as it becomes slight warm.
3. Mix salt and mix well till it becomes fluffy or light. Heat oil in kadahi , you can put this mixer with the help of spoon in oil ,fry it on medium flame turn it.
4. Then keep all these vadas in slight warm water.
5. After 5 mins take out these vadas from water, place on your palm and squeeze it to remove extra water.
6. Keep ready curd, fresh curd is more suitable and if you want it a little sweet mix sugar in curd.
7. Arrange vadas in a plate and spread the curd over these and then the green chutney followed by mithi chutney and sprinkle the powder on top and serve chilled.

Cooking Tip – You can prepare this dish one or two days prior to save time.

2. Gunjhiya

Pallavi says that the festival of Holi and gunjhiya are synonymous especially in Uttar Pradesh; and if you’d like to make this snack, here’s the recipe –

Ingredients

• One katorti maida
• 2 teaspoon ghee/oil
• Pure ghee for frying
• Stuffing
• 2 table spoon mava
• 2 table spoon grated dry coconut
• 3 table spoon sugar
• Cardamom powder
• Fine chopped dry fruits
• Some raisins

Method:

1. First we have to knead maida, ghee /oil with little water for a smooth dough just like puri flour. Keep it aside.
2. Then mix all the ingredients for stuffing.
3. Then roll small puris with the dough and keep that mix in the centre so you can cover this with the other side of the puri.
4. Take a few drops of water on your finger and press the corner with help of water drops.
5. Then cut the extra part of the corner with the help of gunjhiya spoon .
6. Now you can fry this gunjhiya in ghee on medium flame, once it cools store it in air tight containters.

3 .Khaja/chirote/laung latika

Pallavi shares that this dish has many names India. In Rajasthan it is called khaje, in Maharashtra it is known as chirote, in Uttar Pradesh and in Northern India or Delhi it is known as laung-latika.

Don’t let the names scare you, here’s the recipe check it out –

Ingredients

• One katori maida
• 2 tea spoon Ghee/oil for softness
• Two katori Sugar for sugar syrup
• Pure ghee for frying

Method:

1. Knead the maida with ghee and water and set aside.
2. To prepare the sugar syrup, pour water in small quantity just enough to soak sugar and keep the vessel on medium flame stirring continuously until all the sugar has melted. Put off the flame as it started boiling and your sugar syrup is ready.
3. Then roll out the maida balls in medium thick big chapatis.
4. Keep ready tight paste of ghee and maida and spread this paste on the rolled chapatti , then fold it as a cream roll shape ,then cut it into small pieces then again roll it.
5. Now start frying small pieces on medium flame, when they turn pink take them out and put them in the sugar syrup.
6. After 5-10 min you can take them out as now the sugar syrup would have seeped inside these khaje. You can serve these hot also and you can store them also.

Cooking Tip – If you want to put laung (clove) ,it becomes now laung- latika for this you have to make thick layer of khaje and stuck clove in the centre of khaja ,then fry.

Share your recipes with us:

We invite our readers to share their original recipes with us along with pictures to tanya@tanyamunshi.com. 

Look forward to hearing from you!