PUNJABI PANJIRI / PANJIRI

Panjiri is a staple food from Punjab and treated as highly nutritional supplement, specially for growing children and nursing mothers. It is consumed in winters due to its hot properties. It is made with whole wheat flour laced with dry fruits which not only makes it super food but tasty too.

 

INGREDIENTS
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tbsp semolina/ Suji / Rawa
1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup cashews
1/4 cup pista
1/2 cup gond ( edible gum)
1/4 cup magaz (melon seeds)

2 tsp khus (poppy seeds) optional

1cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup ginger powder

1 tsp saunf powder (fennel seeds powder)

1 tsp elachi powder (cardamom powder)

2+2 tbsp ghee (clarified ghee)

1/4 cup Lotus stem (optional)

METHOD

Heat 2-3 tbsp of ghee and roast gond till it doubles in size as shown in pic below.

Using same ghee roast almonds, cashews, pista, melon seeds, khus and rawa. Keep aside.

Once this come down to room temperature, blend to make coarse mixture, make sure not to make it to fine powder. You can keep handful of nuts aside for garnishing.

Now add 2 tbsp more and roast whole wheat flour (Atta) on low flame, stirring in between, till it becomes fragrant. This will take around 10-15 minutes. 

Once it is golden in color and aromatic turn the flame off.

Add roasted suji, nuts powder, saunth powder, elachi powder and saunf powder.

Enjoy warm or serve at room temperature with warm glass of milk.

NOTES:

1. Keep roasting gond on low to medium heat till it doubles in size.

2.  You can keep 1/4 cup aside of roasted nuts mix for garnishing.

3. Lotus stem (Makhane) too is added in this recipe but this time I skipped it. You can simply roast it like other dry fruits till crispy and crunchy. 

4. To give it a more healthy twist you can add flax seeds, sunflower seeds too.

5. It's not necessary to roast suji / rawa separately, you can mix both atta and suji and roast it together. 

6. Don't over add ghee while roasting atta else it will become sticky. For granulated panjiri add less ghee while roasting atta.

7. One of the most important point to kept in mind is: add sugar when atta is at room temperature, don't add sugar even if it is warm.

8. It can be stored in air-tight jar upto 3 weeks.

9. I give this as evening snack (around half bowl) with warm glass of milk to my kids.