New Delhi: Raksha Bandhan is a festival that represents the eternal bond between siblings. It is a time of joy, love, and togetherness. As the auspicious day approaches, what better way to express your love than preparing a delicious meal for your sibling. Listed below are recipes shared by chefs to create unforgettable culinary delights, ranging from mouthwatering sweets that melt in your mouth to savoury delights that tantalise the taste buds.
1. Ghevar Chaat (By Chef Aditi Dixit, CYK Hospitalities)
Ingredients:
For Ghevar
- 2 cups plain flour
- 2 tablespoon gram flour/chickpea flour/besan
- 1/2 cup ghee/clarified butter
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice
- few ice cubes
- oil for frying
- 2 liter water
For Chaat:
- 100gms Potatoes, boiled & chopped
- 150gms Chickpea, soaked & boiled
- 100gms Cucumber, peeled & chopped
- 80gms Onion, peeled & chopped
- 30gms ginger, fine chopped
- 20gms green chilli, fine chopped
- 25gms coriander, fine chopped
- 50gms Mint chutney
- 75gms Saunth chutney
- 3 tbsp Chaat Masala
- 2 tbsp Jeera powder
- 2 tbsp Red chilli powder
- Mint leaves, garnish
- Cashew Nuts, fried & chopped, garnish
- Pomegranate pearls, garnish
- Ginger, juliennes, garnish
- Nylon sev, garnish
For Sweet Curd:
- 50gms Hung curd
- 50gms Regular curd
- 50gms Sugar
- 1 tsp Salt
- A pinch, cardamom powder
Method:
For Ghevar:
- In a mixing bowl add ghee and ice cubes and start rubbing with fingers until the ghee is pale and light.
- Remove the ice cubes and add flour, besan and lemon juice. Start adding the water a little by little and mix to avoid lumps.
- Add all of the water and make a thin batter. Let the batter rest in the refrigerator for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, heat the oil for frying on low to medium heat in a wok.
- Once the oil is hot enough start pouring the batter fille din a ladle from a little height. Make a hole in the center using a skewer or back of the spoon.
- Keep pouring the batter after every 15 seconds until you have enough and desired thickness of ghevar.
- When the sides of ghevar start releasing from the wok, take out the ghevar using a tong or chopstick.
- Keep it on a rack or tray till all the excess oil is dripped off.
For Sweet Curd:
- Mix all ingredients in a bowl till the sugar dissolves and keep in the fridge until use.
To assemble chaat:
- Once the ghevars are at room temperature, mix potatoes, chickpeas, cucumbers, onions, ginger, green chilli and half of coriander leaves in a bowl.
- Pour 1 tbsp of green chutney, 1 tbsp of saunth chutney, 1 tbsp of chaat masala, ½ of jeera powder and ½ of red chilli powder.
- Toss all the ingredients well and your chaat filling is ready.
- Now, take te ghevar, pour the prepared sweet curd on top of it thinely.
- Next add the prepared chaat filling on top of it, sprinkle some chaat masala on top.
- Again pour the sweet curd with a spoon on the filling. Now add green chutney and saunth chutney as you desire.
- Now sprinkle some cumin powder, red chilli powder and chat masala on top.
- Garnish the chaat with pomegranate pearls, ginger juliennes, fried cashew nuts and sev.
- Your ghevar chaat is ready to be served.
2. Smoked Hilsa (By Chef Prakash Chettiyar,Director of Culinary, JW Marriott Kolkata)
Ingredients:
- Hilsa fillet- 400g
- Ginger and garlic paste- 20g
- Crushed black pepper- 5g
- Kasundi (Mustard sauce)- 10g
- Tomato ketchup- 15g
- Lemon juice- 5 ml
- Green chili paste- 5g
- Salt to taste
- Cloves- 5
- Cardamom-2
- Ghee- 10 ml
- Wooden fine dry skin- 500g
- Banana leaf- 2
Method:
- Combine ginger garlic paste, salt, crushed pepper, lemon juice, chopped green chili, kasundi, and tomato ketchup to create a marinade for the Hilsa fillet.
- Allow the fillet to marinate for a duration of 30 minutes.
- Select a large, flat G.N pan to smoke the Hilsa.
- Place a layer of dry, finely cut wooden skin inside the G.N pan or any suitable pan.
- Make sure the middle portion of the pan is left empty.
- Carefully arrange burnt charcoal on top of the wooden skin.
- Completely wrap the Hilsa fish with a banana leaf.
- Place the fish in the center of the G.N pan or any suitable pan.
- Sprinkle cloves, cardamom, and ghee on top of the charcoal fire.
- Cover the pan tightly, making sure no smoke escapes.
- Allow it to smoke for a duration of 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes open it.
- Make it bone less with the help of knife.
- Serve hot with kasundi, Laccha onion and lemon verges.
3. Gulab Jamun (By Chef Vaibhav Bhargava- CHO Vietnamese Kitchen and Bar)
Ingredients:
- Khoya- 125gms
- Maida- 30gm
- Baking powder- 2gm
- Eliachi powder- 2gm
- Milk- 30ml
- Paneer- 20gm
- Desi ghee for frying
- Sugar- 375gm
- Water- 180ml
- Rose water- 4gm
- Lemon juice- 5ml
Method:
For Sugar syrup:
- In a pot, add water and boil it, once boiled add sugar and dissolve and cook till it dissolves and reached to a sticky consistency.
- Check within your fingers while putting a little syrup, it should be sticky but get separated within fingers.
- Add rose water, Elaichi powder and lemon juice. Mix it and keep aside for later.
For gulab jamun dough:
- Take a bowl, add mawa, flour, eliachi powder and baking powder and mix well with soft hands.
- Add milk into it and to make a smooth dough which is crack free but should not be dry too.
- Divide the dough to 12 to 14 shaped balls.
- Take each one and again make the dough round ball and keep it smooth and crack free.
For making gulab jamun:
- Heat ghee in kadhai.
- Check the temperature by putting a small piece of dough, it must go in and rise slowly and should not be brown.
- Increase the flame to medium and start putting balls one by one as much as possible according to the size of the kadhai
- Fry them slowly and keep stirring it uniformly until light golden brown. Adjust the heat accordingly from low to medium.
- Rest the Gulab jamuns for 3 to 5 mins and then soak them into the hot syrup (Not too hot, should be around 7o to 80 degrees.
- Gently mix them into the syrup and let it stand for 30 to 45 mins.
- Serve Gulab jamun in an ice cream waffle cup with ice cream and chopped nuts on top
4. Coconut Barfi Recipe (By Chef Ajay Chopra, Plaka)
Ingredient:
- 1 cup full cream milk
- 1 cup khoya
- 3-4 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp cardamom powder
- 1 cup desiccated coconut
- 1 silver vark
Method
- First place pan and boil milk and reduces it till 50%
- Now add khoya and cook for some more time till it get khoya melted completely
- Add sugar and continuedly stir and after it get thicker remove it aside and make two different batch of mixer
- Sprinkle desiccated coconut and mix with one batch of mixer and in another mixer add pink color and desiccated coconut and mix it.
- Now make layer of first batch and place another layer on top of first batch keep it aside to get set.
- After it get set then cut in to pics and service it.