Delicious Shakkar Para

Shakkar Para is a traditional Maharashtrian dish. It is served as a tea time snack. It is prepared generally during festival days like Diwali, Christmas etc. If you follow this recipe to the T, you can make crispy and crunchy Shakkar Para at home. This sweet dish can be stored in an air tight container for 2 to 3 weeks.

Ingredients

Maida (all-purpose flour) – 4 cups

Hot Ghee – ½ cup

Milk – ½ cup

Sugar – ½ cup

Cardamom Powder- ¼ tsp

Salt – a very small pinch

Oil – for deep frying

Method:

Take All Purpose Flour in a mixing bowl. Add Salt and Cardamom powder. Mix them.

Now, add the hot Ghee to the flour.

Mix with a fork or spoon since it is hot.

After few minutes, mix with both the hands to make the flour soft. Rub it well with both hands for 2 to 3 minutes.

Take Milk and Sugar in a pan. Heat it in medium flame. (In high flame, the sugar will caramelize and the results will not be good). Melt the Sugar without granules and keep aside.

Add Sugar and Milk mixture slowly and keep mixing continuously. After adding all the Sugar and Milk mixture, knead it well into dough. The dough will not be too hard.

Cover the dough with a lid and allow it to rest for an hour.

Knead again till the dough becomes soft and non-sticky. Allow it to rest another 15 to 20 minutes. Divide the dough into 2 equal parts.

Roll out the dough into 4 to 5 mm thick round of 6 to 7 inch diameter with a rolling pin.

Cut it into squares. You can cut them into the shapes you like.

Heat the Oil in pan in medium flame for deep frying. Just to check whether it has attained the required temperature, drop one piece in the Oil. If the dough makes the Oil to sizzle and the dough comes up slowly, the Oil is ready.

Drop the cut pieces into the Oil very carefully. Drop just enough quantity so that the top surface of the Oil only is covered with the pieces.

Fry them on low flame till both the sides of the pieces become golden brown flipping them with a broad ladle now and them. Transfer to a kitchen napkin or paper napkin so that the excess Oil is sucked away by the napkin. When you remove from the Oil, the pieces will be soft but will become crispy as they cool down. Once they attain the room temperature, store them in an air tight container.

Done!

They can be stored for 2 to 3 weeks.

Notes:

1. Make sure that the measurements are as given. Do not vary.
2. Use the same cup measuring the ingredients to get the right proportion.
3. Add the Shankar Paras to the oil when the Oil is medium hot and reduce the flame to low flame immediately. Otherwise, the Shankar Para would turn brown since the Sugar in the dough will burn.