Ghewar
A disc-shaped Indian sweet made from ghee, flour and sugar syrup that’s perfect for celebrating Diwali. A beautiful traditional Rajasthani dish.
Equipment and preparation: You will need a 30cm/12cm round steel mould, a cooking thermometer and chopsticks.
Ingredients
For the ghewar batter
- 115g/4oz ghee, melted, plus extra for shallow frying
- 1 large ice cube or lump of ice
- 300²µ/10½´Ç³ú plain flour
- 1 tbsp gram flour, roasted (see Recipe Tip)
- 200ml/7fl oz chilled milk
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 litre/1¾ pint chilled water
- 250g/9oz sugar
- ½–1tsp ground cardamom
To serve
- peeled Iranian pistachios
- slivered batons of Sicilian almonds
- edible gold leaf
Method
For the batter, put the melted ghee into a large bowl. Use an ice cube to cream the ghee until the ghee and ice has emulsified and solidified.
Add the flour and gram flour to the bowl. Rub (do not knead) with fingertips until you have a breadcrumb-like texture. Pour in the chilled milk and fold together.
Add the lemon juice and one-third of the chilled water and whisk for 3 minutes. Repeat until all the water is used.
Put the batter in the refrigerator for 15–30 minutes.
In a pan, heat enough ghee to measure a couple of fingers thick to 175C–180C, using a cooking thermometer to check.
Once the ghee is hot enough, place the mould into the hot ghee pan and start pouring the batter little by little from a hight into the mould. Using a chopstick, make a little space in the centre so that it will be easy to move the ghewar. Pour some batter, from a little height (this helps ensure the typical web-like pattern) every 10–15 seconds and only into the mould.
As the sides begin to release, take a chopstick and release the ghewar out of the hot ghee. Ghevar is delicate, so be super careful while handling it and use the chopstick to hold in from the centre carefully or else it might break and crush into pieces. Take care of the hot oil.
Transfer to a plate. When the ghewar is ready and cooling, make the sugar syrup by adding the sugar, cardamom and 250ml/9fl oz water to a pan. Cook the syrup over a medium-high heat for approximately 3–4 minutes. The syrup is ready when it gets to a temperature of approximately 103–106C (single-thread stage).
Spoon half of the sugar syrup on top of the ghewar. Repeat the same once again after 10 minutes.
Garnish with pistachios, almonds and gold leaf and serve in slices.
Recipe Tips
To roast the gram (or chickpea) flour, preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. Sift the flour and then tip it into an ovenproof pan. Roast for 15 minutes, stirring from time to time, or until the flour lightly browns all over and gives off a nutty aroma. Remove from the oven and cool.
