GooD (pronounced go-o-D) shankarpal must be another signature sweet made for Diwali in many Marathi/Konkani homes. Last year I had tried these for the first time. But then, I forgot to take pictures, so I could not post it here. I don’t make these dishes very often – once a year is also a very good number according to me, not because I don’t like them, infact I love these too much. But since they take a little bit of patience and time, I avoid even thinking about them.
Aayi makes these thinner than what I made this time, mine have become more like cookies – I just wanted to hurry up things, so I have cut them into thick pieces. Thick or thin, they just taste superb. I remember, while growing up, I used to help her cutting these. She had loads of patience, she would make these goodies often. My brother and I loved to eat them when they were still hot. Now that we both are away from home, she has stopped making these.
Here is how aayi’s shankarpal looks like. This photo was taken by my brother when aayi made these for him.
I am posting all these well in advance to Diwali so that those who want to follow these, have enough time to try these. I am sending this to Vee’s Diwali special JFI .
Ingredients: 1 cup(approx) sugar 1 cup water 3/4 cup vanaspathi ghee(dalda) – hydrogenated vegetable oil or normal ghee + oil/ ghee/dalda for deep frying 4 cups(approx) maida or all purpose flour 1/2 tea spn salt
The amount of sugar given above makes these very mildly sweet. So increase it if you want to make them more sweet. I didn’t measure flour properly, so if needed, add more/less flour to make the dough. Aayi always uses dalda , which makes these very light and tasty, since I read somewhere about ghee , I mentioned that too.
Method: Heat sugar with 3/4 cup ghee/dalda and water till the sugar and ghee/dalda melts. Take off the heat and let it cool to room temperature. Now add salt, flour and knead it into a tight dough. Keep it aside for 30mins.
Heat dalda/ghee for deep frying (I used 1/2 dalda + 1/2 oil). Knead the dough well. Take a big ball and roll it into a round of desired thickness (if required, dust lightly with dry flour). Dip the edge of a knife in dry loose flour(this avoids sticking) and cut into square pieces.
Deep fry the pieces in oil till they are dark brown. Take out on a paper towel. Allow them to cool to room temperature and then store in air tight container.
Preparation time : 2hrs
PS: This measurement makes fairly large batch of shankarpals . So if it is your first time, start with half the quantity mentioned above.
This year I had decided to make all the important dishes that can be associated with Diwali. Many of my readers had asked for this recipe and also, once I prepared the sweet version , I had to make the spicy or khara (Kannada) or theek (Konkani) version. These were a favorite of my family.
This shankarpal was a regular at my home when we were kids. We had a special kind of cutter – like in this picture from Vaishali , which was used to cut these. Aayi’s shankarpal were very spicy and all cut in the same shape and size. As a kid, I used to love using this cutter, it was loads of fun. So one of the reasons I love to try these is – they remind me of my blessed childhood.
I have seen some people cut these into long strips instead of these little parallelograms, which is more easier and less time consuming. But I like these small shapes because I feel it is fun. I made these yesterday after returning from my office, I was hoping to do one post a day till Diwali. But by the time I finished this, I felt like I would fall off – 8hrs of work at office + all the work at home does not leave much energy. So I let it go.
This is my spicy entry to Vee’s Diwali special JFI . Till she is fed up of my entries and asks me to stop, I will keep sending her my Diwali entrees, after all I get into this kind of cooking mood very rarely ;).
There are many ways of making this dish. This is aayi’s version.
Ingredients: 1 cup maida or all purpose flour 1 cup wheat flour 2 tea spns rice flour 2 tea spns(approx) chili powder A pinch asafoetida 2 tea spns hot oil + oil for deep frying A tea spn slightly crushed cumin seeds(optional) – I didn’t add this Salt
Adjust chili powder according to your taste.
Method: Mix flours with chili powder, asafoetida, salt and 2 tea spns hot oil. Add enough water to make a dough. Leave the dough for about 30mins.
Take a big ball of the dough and roll into a thin circle. Cut into small parallelograms. Do not stack the pieces one above other.
Heat oil for deep frying. Deep fry the pieces. When they are cooled to room temperature, store in air tight container.
Preparation time : 1 and 1/2 hrs
