Rabri and Malpua go hand in hand for marwaris, specially for Jodhpuris. I remember my father and my maternal grandmother being huge fan of Malpuas. Though I have never liked them much, for their bonding relationship with sugar syrup and just like Jalebis, Imartis and Bengali sweets, malpuas also happened to be a sweet dish that I never tried. But, I was always a huge fan of Rabri. In fact, there is a very famous shop in Jodhpur, by the clock tower, an important stop for all tourists, that is popular for its lassi, kulfi and Rabri and every time I traveled to Jodhpur, that would be on my eating out list.
As for the history of Malpua, first reference of this sweet dish was made in the Rigveda, as ‘Apupa’. The recipe of Apupa was something that uses barley flour made in form of flat cakes, deep fried in ghee and then dipped in honey before serving.
Rabri seems to be connected with Bengal because of its flavor resemblance being close to Basundi. Its made by over boiling of milk on low heat, until it becomes dense and pale yellow in color.
I remember when I was 15, a family friend’s daughter, almost 10 years older than me, soon to be married. She loved to cook and would often come to see my mom and would also showcase her cooking skills. She would come to our house very often and she once made Khoye ke malpua and all I saw was 2 people busy making Malpuas and I never gathered the courage to go and peep to even see what was going on. All I saw was my Father and maternal Grandmother, both diabetic, hogging on to those Malpuas before anyone could stop them. They offered it to me and with the look of the dripping sugar syrup, it was a NO from my side. I then saw someone bring in Rabri from my favorite store and I was more than happy eating my plain Rabri. Now since, I have never been a big fan of Malpuas and Mr. Parveez never mentioned it either, it never occurred to me that I should try making them at home. In addition to that, I don’t know why but I always felt that making Malpuas must be too much work and I kind of never felt the need to even try it.
One day, we happened to be watching a Food channel where a food blogger went to Mumbai and showed this guy making big size Malpuas being thrown in the Kadai with boiling ghee and further dipped in the sugar syrup and being served straight away with cold Rabri and Mr. Parveez looked so impressed. So, I just asked him, “Do you like it?’ and he said, “yes”. With me that was more than enough to try making this out.
I checked with a family friend who got me a recipe from one of Jodhpur’s authentic Malpua maker. Sometimes people share secrets, they one have to be sure that no one is taking their business away, second, you need to contact through the right source and third and most important, you just have to be sweet when you ask, and mostly people fail to do the third thing. He never gave me the exact measurements though, but when you cook, ingredients are usually enough for you to crack a recipe because even if you use the exact same measurements, the dish would be completely different when made by 2 different people. I always tell everyone I teach, Don’t learn, get inspired. Learning while copying to do the same, makes you good, But Learning while getting inspired makes you outstanding. Never give up on being unique.
Now my first goal was to work on the Rabri, of course personal reasons. So, I started working on it, it was a slow process and the first time I made it, I was restless because I thought I was doing something wrong and its taking too long, but after that I was a pro and I can now cook 4 dishes the same time as I make Rabri. and, when I tasted it, I was so happy with myself, it tasted much nicer than the Rabri from my favorite sweet store in Jodhpur.
Now the Malpuas, they were much easier than I thought. Few ingredients, paying attention, and your Malpuas are ready to be served. They are very much like pancakes. My first attempt made them a little thick, the second time, I mixed in more milk trying to make them more thin. Try taking a good non stick pan to reduce the quantity of ghee you take.
Rabri can be refrigerated for up to a week. Malpua batter can also be refrigerated for up to 3-4 days. It tends to thicken a little while being refrigerated, you can always add a little milk tablespoon by tablespoon to make the consistency thinner.
I have out up ways and pics of both the thick Malpua and the thin Malpua. You can see both ways and pick your favorite. Though I have given the recipe of Rabri after the Malpua, but its always recommended that you make the Rabri few hours, if not a day before and refrigerate it. The Malpua needs to be hot and the Rabri needs to be chilled when served.
Decorate with silver leaf, crushed nuts and roses or anyway you like or just plain…the taste is so good that it will be loved and appreciated any which way. Enjoy!!!
| Prep Time | 30 minutes |
| Cook Time | 90 minutes |
| Passive Time | 1 hour |
| Servings |
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- 1 cup Whole Milk For the Malpua, if making thin add another 1/2 cup
- 1/2 cup Sooji For the Malpua
- 1/2 cup All purpose Flour Maida, For the Malpua
- 1/2 cup Khoya Powder Milk Powder, For the Malpua
- 1/2 tbsp Ghee For the Malpua batter
- 1/4 tsp Baking powder For the Malpua
- 2 tbsp granulated Sugar For the Malpua
- 1/2 tsp Fennel seed powder or crushed, For the Malpua
- 1/4 tsp cardamom powder For the Malpua
- 1 cup Ghee to Fry the Malpua, you can also use Oil
- 2 cups Sugar For the Malpua chashni
- 1.5 cups Water For the Malpua chashni
- 1/2 tsp cardamom powder For the Malpua chashni
- 1 tsp Rose essence For the Malpua chashni
- 1/4 tsp saffron strands For the Malpua chashni
- 1/8 tsp Orange/yellow food color For the Malpua Chashni
- 10 cups Whole Milk For the Rabri
- 1 cup Khoya Grated, For the Rabri
- 1 cup granulated Sugar For the Rabri
- 1/2 tsp cardamom powder For the Rabri
- 1/4 tsp saffron strands For the Rabri
- 1 tsp Kewra water For the Rabri
- 1/4 cup Crushed Nuts Almonds + Pistachios, For Garnishing
- 4 No. Silver leaves For Garnishing
Ingredients
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- Start by warming the milk. Make sure you do not scald it. Just take it off before it reaches the boiling point. Add semolina/suji to the milk and mix well. Let it stand for 15-20 min. Again mix well.
- Add flour, sugar and milk powder, Mix well.
- Add crushed fennel seeds and cardamom seeds.
- Mix well. Whisk it so everything blends in well. Mix the baking powder just before making the pancakes.
- Cover the mixture and let it stand for at least 1 hr.
- For the syrup, add measured amount of sugar and water in a pan and let it boil. As the sugar dissolves completely, lower the heat to medium.
- Add cardamom powder, saffron and rose water to flavor the syrup. Keep the syrup hot.
- To make the Malpuas, Heat sufficient ghee/ oil in a pan for deep frying. As the oil is heating up, beat the batter really well. Add baking powder to the batter just before frying.
- Once the oil is hot, reduce it to the lowest point. Next, take a ladle full of batter, pour it gently into the oil and do not touch.
- Once it starts to get golden brown, turn it over and let it fry on the other side as well.
- Deep fry till nicely brown.. The edges should start to get crispy but the center still be a little soft.
- Drain the pancakes on tissues. Dip it in the hot rose and saffron syrup. This is the first way.
- To make the thinner malpuas: Heat sufficient oil in a pan for deep frying. As the oil is heating up, beat the batter really well. Add baking powder and half a cup of milk to the batter just before frying. Please add the milk little at a time since you might require less than 1/2 cup, so add a tblsp at a time. The mixture should be thin but not runny.
- Once the oil is hot, reduce it to the lowest point. Next, take a ladle full of batter, pour it gently into the oil and do not touch. Once it starts to get golden brown, turn it over and let it fry on the other side as well. Deep fry till nicely brown.. The edges should start to get crispy but the center still be a little soft.
- Drain the Malpuas on a kitchen towel. Dip it in the hot rose and saffron syrup.
- Remove the malpuas from the syrup. Do not keep them in the syrup for more than 2-3 minutes. Transfer them to individual plates to serve.
- Start boiling the milk for Rabri on low to medium heat. the milk has to be constantly stirred and cannot be left unattended. If the milk get burnt, it would smell and you will have to restart the procedure with new milk.
- Keep taking the cream off and mix it into the milk.
- Take the cream of the sides to while cooking and keep mixing it into the milk. Reduce the milk to half the original quantity.
- Add in sugar and mix well. At this point the milk should look grainy and should have thickened a bit. Also the milk should have a slight yellowish color.
- Add grated khoya and mix well. the milk will continue to thicken more after adding Khoya and you should stir it constantly.
- Add the cardamom powder, kewra water and saffron and mix well. Check the sugar and add more if needed. Stir constantly.
- Once the milk covers the back of the spoon when dipped, its pretty thick. Turn off the gas.
- Let the milk cool down and then cover it and refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours. If in a rush, put it in the freezer for an hour. Don't let it freeze, you just need it chilled.
- If serving Rabri by itself, garnish with nuts and serve.
- Or else, Take a serving plate and pile up 3-4 Malpuas that have been freshly taken out of hot sugar syrup. Pour a little syrup more on them.
- Pour the chilled Rabri. Decorate with silver leaf and crushed nuts. Serve immediately.
This looks so delectable. I am sure, just like your other recipes which I have tried and become a huge it this is going to be one star. Looking forward to make this. 😊