Indian cuisine · Desserts & Sweets

Malpua

Small pancakes of flour, semolina and milk, fried in ghee and soaked hot in saffron sugar syrup.

Ingredients · for 4 servings

• 150 g flour
• 2 tbsp semolina
• 400 ml whole milk
• 200 g sugar
• 150 ml water
• 1/2 tsp saffron threads
• 4 cardamom pods
• 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
• 250 g ghee
• 40 g pistachios

Instructions

1. Whisk flour and semolina with the whole milk into a lump-free, thin batter, mix in the crushed fennel seeds and let the batter swell covered for 30 min.
2. For the syrup, boil sugar and water at a rolling boil for 5–6 min. until slightly sticky, then add the saffron and crushed cardamom seeds and keep the syrup lukewarm.
3. Finely chop the pistachios and stir the batter once more – it should run off the spoon like a thin pancake batter, thinning with 2 tbsp milk if needed.
4. Heat the ghee in a small, deep pan to about 2 cm deep at 165 °C and pour in one ladle of batter at a time so a disc of 8–10 cm forms.
5. Fry the malpua for 2 min. per side, spooning hot ghee over the edge as it cooks, until it is crisply ruffled and golden brown in the center.
6. Steep the hot pancakes immediately for 2 min. in the lukewarm syrup, drain and serve warm sprinkled with the pistachios.