AFLATOON A Nourishing Winter Dessert A Rare Cooked Delight By VIKRAM KARVE Here is a mix for Aflatoon a wealthy fortified tasty moral for winter. Aflatoon is a rare cooked delight. Baking is more a qualitative art, rather than a quantitative science. The other day, a friend of ours dropped building a packet of scrumptious Dharwadi Pedhas. My dear wife [who does not know within the dictum: There is no greater like than the like of chewing ] promptly place them within the fridge and forgot about it.
Now what greater inanity shall be there than consigning new soft flavorsome mellifluous Pedhas to harden up in some remote cold corner regarding the fridge? So when I first discovered the packet of cold hard Pedhas lying hidden deep inside my fridge during two of my surreptitious midnight raids, when my better 1/2 was fast asleep, I was first miffed, then improvising, decided to soften them up in my microwave oven. I place a piece of warm softened-up Pedha in my mouth Lo and Behold! The Dharwadi Pedha had metamorphosed into a Lal Peda. Yes, it tasted like genuine Banarasi Lal Peda with its unique wholesome crispy roasted milky taste. Now that is serendipity. I've searched for Lal Peda all over but nothing should match the authentic Lal Peda I used to like near Sankat Mochan in Varanasi.
I like sweets mostly Indian Sweets Pedhas, Barfis, Rosogulla, Gulab Jamun, Kala Jamun, Cham Cham, Sandesh, Jilebi, Imrati, Son Papdi, Mysore Pak, Petha, Mahim Halwa, Malpua, Karanji, Anarse, Chirote, Lavang Lata, Ladoos you name it, I like it and two of favorites is a superb wholesome treat called Aflatoon. Now the only location I've had Aflatoon is on Mohammed Ali Path in Mumbai, at Suleman Mithaiwala near Minara Masjid, and I ponder also at Zam Zam little distance below the road. Aflatoon not only satisfies your sweet-tooth; it sends wealthy nourishment and is blissfully satiating too. Like my look for for Lal Peda, my look for for Aflatoon also remained elusive, so I decided to improvise and hope for the best. Now remember, My Dear Reader, I'm no best cook, nor am I a high-falutin connoisseur, nor a culinary expert; I'm just a simple down-to-earth trencherman, an avid foodie, so I asked around, searched around, explored, extrapolated, reverse-engineered, and here is what I improvised, a purely ingenious adventurous concocted experimental recipe.
[Try it at that you own risk!]. First, with a fork, I thoroughly beat 3 new eggs till fluffy, added one cup [vati or katori] of sweetener sum more whether you like it sweeter and then vigorously whisked distant till all the sweetener dissolved and the mix was nice and fluffy. I had already switched on my stove yes, Aflatoon is a cooked delight one regarding the rare Indian sweets which are cooked in an oven. I rubbed pure ghee on the palms of my hands and kneaded 1/2 a kilo of new Khoya [khava, mawa created from buffalo milk] till it was slippery smooth. Then I blended in and coalesced the Khoya into the feathery egg-sugar emulsion and whipped strongly with my hands till my wrists pained, and my biceps and triceps strained, and the khoya had fully dissolved and merged into the mlange and the fusion was complete, the wealthy blend velvety smooth.
Now in a plate, I mixed together one cup of rawa, 1/2 cup of maida, and a pinch of baking powder, and gently folded this mixture, spoon by spoon, into the egg-sugar-khoya amalgamation and robustly swirled and pasted the batter with my hands, till my hands got tired repeatedly and my muscles ached. Here, there is no exact proportion of how many rawa- maida mix is to be added to batter; my hands tell me when to stop later I can always sum a bit as and when compulsory to obtain the right baking consistency. Now the interesting component I lovingly blended in 3 katories or vaties [yes, 3 full glasses one cup per egg] of pure ghee and churned with my hands for an extended time till the ghee fully dissolved into the delectable mixture, indiscernible. Now here is the difference in sequence of components while baking a cake you begin of with creaming the butter, than blend within the sugar, then eggs, then maida; here you begin off with beating the eggs, then the sugar, the khoya, the rawa-maida flour, and now returns the pure ghee clarified butter. Hey, do not forget to lick your fingers from time to time and try the delightful mlange at each stage and plus-minus the proportions accordingly.
Also, your fingers shall tell you when the consistency is perfect. That is howcome I not ever use mixers, blenders, juicers, measuring glasses and all those hi-fi gadgets when preparing dough and batter for cooked delights, or baking dishes I always rely on my own tongue to tell me the precise taste, use my hands to cream, blend, the concoction to right consistency, improvise the components and proportions accordingly whether you need to bake creatively, there is nothing to beat that you own sensory perception, isn't it? And yes, don't ever forget to use your nose too food should be fragrant, appetizingly aromatic, besides receiving note of deliciously mouthwatering and tempting to look and touch! Now I mixed within the spices powdered jaiphal, dalchini, elaichi, lavang - and, while gently stirring with my hand, slowly poured in yummy thick creamy buffalo milk, about 1/2 a cup, till the consistency regarding the smooth paste becomes soft and silky, and ready for baking. Do not forget to always have the rawa-maida wheat ready in stand-by mode to even up the batter, if required. Then I combine in kismis, manuka, crushed pasted khajur, squeezing my fingers. Oh, just a minute, I thoroughly combine in a little drops of lavender essence to make even the slightest trace regarding the smell of eggs leave away.
Finally I embellish with crushed hard veggie like badam, pista, kaju etc. I now pour within the wealthy creamy dough into pure-ghee greased baking trays and bake it in my conventional pre-heated stove at moderate heat till the characteristic mouthwatering aroma wafts through the pantry and the Aflatoons looked appetizingly brown. With all the khoya, creamy milk and wealthy components it sometimes takes almost an hour or so to be done. Time does not matter, when cooking, as in eating, I like to be unhurried the slower the baking the tastier the food. I always like to hold the heat moderate and my senses, mostly olfactory, alert.
The proof regarding the pudding is within the eating. I was dying to sample the result of my culinary experiment, so I did not even wait till it cooled Oh yes, it tasted wholesome, sumptuous, appetizing, good. Just imagine whether you fortify milk-cake with eggs, enrich it, spice it up, and roast it well that is the nearest I can describe how aflatoon tastes. I wonder if aflatoon shall be created by roasting it on a tawa instead of baking it! I relished my homemade aflatoon but then nothing can beat the original aflatoon for which I'll need to head to Mumbai. Till then, I'll hold savoring these I'm sure with all the pure ghee imbibed in them these aflatoons shall final for days provided I hold them hidden distant from craving babies and other insatiable trenchermen like me! Dear Reader, and fellow Foodie howcome don't ever you too improvise, be creative, experiment, use that you own components and proportions, conjure up your very own aflatoon, savor it, try it out on your family and friends, and tell us all about it.
And whether you happen to live in Mumbai, howcome take all this trouble just leave ahead and relish the original. Happy Baking! Dear Reader and Fellow Foodie: For more such appetizing dishes do view APPETITE FOR A STROLL, a treatise on The Art of Eating, Easy to Bake Foods andFoodie Adventuresin Pune and Mumbai.
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