Malpua is a pretty common Indian dessert, fascinating in taste and lucrative in looks. I am always intrigued by its colour, off white around the center with the edges appearing brown. It can be quickly described as the Indian version of fried pan cake sans the egg and soaked into sugar syrup. Pretty easy to cook at home, malpua is a sheer delight with the combination of semolina and flour with the seeds of fennel and falvour of ghee making each bite special.

Ingredients for 12-14 pieces :

For ‘Malpua’ batter :

1. Milk – 3 large cups
2. Flour – 1 cup
3. Semolina – 3-4 tbspoon
4. Pinch of baking soda
5. Sugar – 1 tbspoon
6. Fennel seed – 1 teaspoon
7. Ghee/Clarified butter – 1 teaspoon
8. Cooking oil for frying
9. Pistachio slices for garnishing (optional)

For Sugar syrup :

1. Water – 1 cup
2. Sugar – 1 cup
3. Green cardamom powder – ½ teaspoon
4. Few strands of saffron

Procedure :

To prepare the batter for ‘malpua’ mix the flour with semolina in a bowl.

Add baking soda, ghee and 1 tbspoon of sugar to the mixture, mix them well.

Gradually add milk to make a lump free batter.

Stir in the fennel seeds.

Cover the bowl with a lid and keep aside for at least 2 hours.

Before frying ‘malpua’ sugar syrup need to be ready. For that boil the sugar and water in a large pan. As the syrup approaches one thread consistency add cardamom powder and saffron. Boil for another couple of minutes and put the gas off. Cover the pan with a lid.

Now heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat. I used less quantity of oil just to pan fry the ‘malpua’. You can also deep fry them.

Pour one ladle full of ‘malpua’ batter in the hot oil. Evenly cook both sides of it and then immerse in lukewarm syrup. Repeat the procedure till the batter has been finished.

Leave the ‘malpua’ in sugar syrup for 30 minutes and then transfer to a serving dish.

Garnish with pistachio slices and serve hot or cold as per your choice.

Note :

1. You can also add ‘mawa’ or ‘khoya’ to the batter to make the dessert more rich in taste.