The auspicious festival of Basant Panchami will be celebrated with great pomp and enthusiasm on Wednesday, February 14th. This festival takes place during the Hindu month of Magh, which falls between January and February in the Gregorian calendar. Considered a spring festival, it marks the beginning of the Vasant Ritu (spring season), which is associated with new life and new beginnings in all aspects of life. The feast that follows the fast and rituals is an important part of any Indian festival. Housewives swarm around hot stoves to produce delicacies that will tempt even the pickiest of palates. Not only do people wear a lot of yellow on Basant Panchami, but yellow food is also a common colour for the offered meal. (Also read: Chinese New Year 2024: Dumplings to longevity noodles, most popular dishes savoured on this day )
Basant Panchami special recipes
Chef Arun Kumar, Sous Chef, The Ashok shared with HT Lifestyle some special yellow colour Basant Panchami recipes that are sure to make your festival more special.
1. Upreta
Ingredients:
Maida 1 ½ cup
Rava ½ cup
Ghee1 tbsp + 2 tbsp
Rice flour – 1 tbsp + 2 tbsp
Water as required
Salt – ½ tsp
Oil for frying
Water as required
Powder Sugar – for dusting
Saffron – 20 strands
Method:
1. Take a bowl, add 1 tbsp ghee add saffron strands , start whipping with your fingers until it becomes creamy.
2. Next add 1 tbsp rice flour, whip again with fingers to form uniform mixture. Keep this aside for further use.
3. Now add maida, rava, salt. Mix well with your finger tips to form crumbs. Add water little at a time and prepare stiff dough. Rest this dough for 15 minutes.
4. Now make equal parts of the dough and prepare thin big rotis. Take one big roti at a time, spread little ghee – flour paste on the surface. Now place one more roti on the first and apply ghee- flour mixture. Same way make alternate layers of roti and ghee-flour paste.
5. Make a tight roll of the roti. Cut them vertically into small bits. Now press this small dough so that you see concentric circles and roll into medium sized poories.
6. Heat oil on medium heat, deep fry these chiroties. Pouring hot oil on top of these while frying.
7. Fry on the other side until they turn slightly golden. Remove and dust on top with powder sugar.
2. Meethi chawal
Ingredients:
Basmati rice (soaked) – 1 cup
Water – 2 cups
Turmeric – ½ tsp
For Dum
Ghee – 3tbsp
Cinnamon – 1small stick
Cardamom – 5nos
Black cardamom – 1no
Cloves – 4no
Coconut (dry, sliced) – handful
Almond (chopped) – handful
Cashew nut (chopped) – handful
Pista (chopped) – handful
Milk – 1cup
Saffron – a pinch
Sugar – 1cup
Rose water – 2tbsp
Kewra water – 1 tbsp
Instructions:
1. Soak the rice for about 30 min. Boil 2 cups of water and add ½ tsp turmeric into it.
2. Drain the soaked rice and carefully pour into the boiling water and cook the rice over medium heat.
3. Once the rice is 80% cooked, drain. Take a new heavy bottomed pan, heat over medium flame. Add ghee to the vessel once it’s hot.
4. In a heavy bottomed pan add ghee, once the ghee melts. Add in the whole spices and the dried coconut.
5. Stir for about 2 minutes and add in the almonds and cashew nuts. Roast this for about min.
6. Now add in the milk and saffron. Boil until the saffron releases its color and sweet smell. Now, add in the sugar, rose water and kewra water. Stir until everything mixes well. Add in the rice and carefully mix without breaking rice grains.
7. Cover the vessel with a lid and cook on low flame for 5-7 minutes.
8. Switch of the heat and leave the rice with the lid on for another 5 minutes. Open the lid and using a flat spoon, lift the rice from the sides to allow the grains to open up.
9. Transfer to the serving platter and serve hot.
3. Cous Cous Boondi Ladoo
Ingredients:
200gcous cous
100g gram flour
20strands saffron
3 tbsp. ghee
150g sugar
½ tsp. lemon juice
¼cupwater for making the syrup
1 tbsp. melon seeds
20pistachios
Dry rose petals
Method:
1. Boil water double the quantity of cous cous with saffron, pour it into the cous cous and let it allow to bloom with lid covered
2. Take a pan add, sauté gram flour with the same strands of saffron on slow fire till sandy texture is attained.
3. Carefully add the sautéed gram flour to the bloomed cous cous, mix thoroughly.
Sugar Syrup
4. Take sugar in a pan along with water and lemon juice.
5. Add crushed saffron to it.
6. Heat it on medium flame and cook till the sugar melts.
7. The syrup should have one-string consistency.
8. Once it reaches the desired thickness switch the flame off.
Assembling Ladoo
9. Batch by batch add all the cous cous to the syrup, stir in the melon seeds mix it properly
10. While the mixture is hot yet to be handled by hand, apply ghee to your palm and make balls out of this mixture.
11. Top each ball with a piece of sliced pistachio and rose petals.
4. Pineapple rawa kesari
Ingredients:
1 tsp ghee
10 cashew nut
10 nos raisin
1 cup semolina
1 cup pineapple chopped
1 cup sugar
3 cup water
10 stands saffron
½ cup ghee
¼ cardamom powder
Instructions:
1. Firstly, in a pan heat 1 tsp ghee and roast cashew and raisins, remove.
2. In the same ghee add Semolina and roast well, until till turns aromatic, keep aside.
3. In a large kadhai heat 1 tsp ghee and chopped pineapple and sauté until it turns aromatic.
4. Now add ¼ sugar 3 cups of water and mix well, add more sugar if the pineapple is sour, cover and boil until the pineapple softens.
5. Add in roasted semolina and stir continuously, make sure no lumps is formed.
6. Add ¾ cup sugar, saffron strands and mix until the sugar melts.
7. Further add ½ cup ghee and mix.
8. Now add roasted cashew, raisin and cardamom powder, and mix well.
