Anarosh Malpua: Pineapple Malpua – Ordinary Malpua with a twist
I am a Bangal (people who are originally from then East Bengal, now Bangladesh and settled in West Bengal, India as opposed to Goti-people originally from West Bengal, India) from Tripura with ancestry in Noakhali, Bangladesh. Although I have never really stayed in Tripura other then visiting my thakuma (Paternal Grandmother) and kaku (paternal Uncle), Kakimoni (Aunt) and cousins once a year, I feel a strong bonding with the place. Whenever I go there, I feel belonged. This is a place where my thakuma lives and I can feel her in the air. Her soft body, wrinkled skin, her toothless smile, her tight hug: Tripura is all these and more to me. It is home. My cousin’s adore me: it is this bonding that makes Tripura so special. Being the eldest daughter in the family of the eldest son of the family, I was always special. My thakuma thought I should do better than my father. She was so disappointed when I got married without a PhD. She told me that marriage has the capability to stop your journey unless you have a good partner. Well, I do have an amazing partner, he is my most successful campaign towards gender rights (pun intended), and my thakuma loved him. It is this strength of the women in my family like my thakuma, my kaki monis and my mother that shaped all of us.
This Malpua is from my home. Malpua’s are sweet fritters or pancakes, which are eaten as dessert or sweet snack in many parts of India and Bangladesh. For the Bengali’s who are Hindu, it is a sweet that is also associated with various religious festival like Durga puja, Janmastami, Lakshmi puja etc. At my house, Malpua is associated with Bengali New Year as we come from agricultural background and new year ( Nobo (new) Borsho (year) ) is a time to celebrate new harvest. This Malpua is little different from the one that I have eaten in many house in Kolkata. It is not soaked in sugar syrup. In our house, when we soak the Malpua in sugar syrup we then call it roshbhora malpua (Rosh is syrup in Bengali). I made them for this Noboborsho but as it is Janmastami today, I thought I might as well share the recipe. I have just added pineapple to give it a twist but usually it is not added. you can that as well.
Anarosh Malpua: Pineapple Malpua-Ordinary Malpua with a twist
Server: will make around 20 Malpua
Preparation time: 15 mins
Soaking Time: 30 mins
Frying Time: 30 mins maybe
Ingredient:
1-cup flour
¼-cup coarse Semolina
½- teaspoon Fennel seed (saunff)
½- cup sugar (change the quantity suiting your taste of sweetness. My ones were little too sweet for me but my guests for whom I was making likes them sweet)
½-cup crushed pineapple ( you can leave pineapple incase you want to make the usual malpua)
½-cup water /milk ( I used water)
Oil for deep-frying
Method:
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Soak coarse semolina in little water with sugar and saunff/fennel seeds for 20 mins
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Add flour. Check the consistency of the batter. It should not be too thick or too loose. You should be able to take a scoop of the batter with spoon and fry them in little fluffy shapes. Adjust water/milk according to the consistency
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Deep Fry them. Serve then with pineapple cream (made with coconut cream and crushed pineapple)
Note : instead of pineapple, you can add banana/ crushes apple/ dates/sultanas
Love the story of your Thakuma.