Mharo Rajasthan's Recipes Blog turns ONE - Celebrating with Ghevar - घेवर

Hello Friends,


Wow, I was only dreaming to be writing this post when I used to read other people celebrating their milestones. But, here it is, time flies. It seems like just yesterday that I started this blog and already 1 whole year has passed. 


I have to start this post by saying thank you to all of you, my regular and some not-so regular blog readers who come and encourage me with your great words and motivate me. If you were not there, I wouldn't have seen this day and might have lost interest in it completely after few posts. Thanks Rupali for asking me to check out her blog which inspired me to start my own.


Let's see what else, a few milestones and other things I achieved that I would like to list.


My First/Second Post (first post was just introduction) - Choorma
My 100th Post - Started an event called Veggie/Fruit A Month, which has been a great success due to all my fellow bloggers
My 200th Post - Celebrated with Kesariya Peda


I started my very first event Veggie/Fruit A Month event in June 2010, then started an event called Bookmarked Recipes - Every Tuesday on 3rd August 2010, which I now co-host with US Masala, who is a wonderful friend of mine. I hope to receive your continuous encouragement and feedback on everything I blog about and I will not let you down and make you visit me again and again.


It is now time to celebrate it with something I made. Everyone usually makes sweets for celebrating. I wanted to make something Rajasthani, whether sweet or not. But, then I was like why not go for sweet itself as that seems to be the trend.


I am not sure how many of you have even heard of it. It is called GHEVAR. This is the most made sweet, actually not so made at home at all, as it is little tricky and you get it very commonly anywhere. So, people celebrate festivals by buying this. It is a sweet you MUST try, if you ever visit any of the cities in Rajasthan. Don't come back without trying it.


I have tried this recipe (of course I had to use a recipe from someone as I probably could not even dream of making it from scratch at home all by myself, know what I mean) from a blog I am very fond of called Nisha Madhulika. Please do visit her blog for video of how to make it as it is a bit tricky. I am just going to re-write the recipe as I want it to make it part of my blog and efforts too. Visit her blog as she has answered lot of questions from readers like mine and you will be benefited, if you really want to try making this.


I envy many of you who have great cameras and wonderful photography skills. I have good camera but, not so good at imagining and placing my food properly with appropriate props. So, here is what it looks like.

Ghevar - घेवर (A Western Indian Fried Sweet made with All Purpose Flour and Milk)

Ingredients
For Ghevar Batter
Maida (All Purpose Flour) - 1.5 cups
Milk (cold or room temp) - 1/2 cup
Ghee (Clarified Butter) - 1/2 cup for mixing the batter and about 3-4 cups for frying ghevar
Water - 2 cups
For Sugar Syrup
Sugar - 1.5 cups
Water - 1 cup
Preparation

• I used my Kitchen Aid, but feel free to use your hand and whip or your mixer or anything to mix the batter.
• Take milk and 1/2 cup ghee and mix (whip) nicely for 2-3 minutes
• Now, add all purpose flour and mix well till there are no lumps.
• Add water little by little and mix it well into a smooth consistency. If you take in a spoon and try to drop on a plate, it should be thin (check Nisha's video).
• Now, heat the rest of the ghee in a small pan (usually the size of the ghevar you want to make). 
• While the ghee is heating, make the syrup in the side and let it cool.
• To check if the ghee is hot or not, drop little batter and make sure, it immediately comes on the top.
• Now, take a big spoonful (about 1/3 cup sized) of batter and slow and steady start poring it right in the middle of the pan with ghee. You will immediately start seeing lot of bubbles, let them all subside.
• Now, add another spoonful (only after bubbles are subsided, about 45-60 seconds) right in the middle and let bubbles come and subside.
• If the middle of the pan is crowded by now, take a very thin spoon and with its end (or if you have a knife set, you can use the knife sharpener) and push the batter from the middle of the pan to the sides.
• Continue this process till you have reached the desired thickness of ghevar. I only did 5 spoonfuls for one ghevar.
• Now, reduce the flame to medium and let the ghevar cook till nice golden color (about 2-3 min.)
• No need to flip it, as soon as you see golden brown spots on the top, drain it on a paper towel or plate. Keep it slanted to get rid of excell ghee.
• Once it is slightly cooler, dip it in sugar syrup (for about 5-10 seconds) and drain it on another plate. Continue this process for all ghevars. I could make 4 from my batter quantity given above.
• Once all syrup is drained, feel free to save in air-tight contained and use it for upto a week or so.

Serving
Usually, it is served as is. It tastes better, when it is slightly cold. Or, as Nisha suggested. top it with some nice rabri (reduced and thickened milk) and nuts serve. I like to eat it with warm milk, tastes superb :)


Sit back and enjoy and please keep visiting me again and again. That's all for now and take care till next post.