GuL Papadichya Vadya

As I have shared in my previous post, I did make few vegan sweets this year for Diwali. I have been making at least one vegan sweet for Diwali for past few years. And every year I have tried new sweet and consistently gotten great results with exceptions of super flops. I do note down things somewhere so that I can revisit if it goes wrong and I can tweak things when I re-visit that recipe. That habit paid off this year as I was able to make multiple sweets very successfully this year. And I want to document the recipes so I can throw away my post-its.

This particular recipe is my aunts. I have eaten this barfi every time I visited her in Mumbai. Ingredients are readily available in almost all the Indian households. It is very simple to make and taste is to die for.  I learned this from her few years ago and have made it but then forgot about it altogether. My aunts visit in the summer reminded me of her best preparations and this was first on the list.

Here is this very simple recipe -

1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 cup Jaggery
3-4 tbsp Walnut oil (Aunt uses Ghee of course)
3-4 Green Cardamoms
2 tsp Poppy seeds (optional)
Few Walnuts or Almonds
2 tbsp Water

(1/2 bowl water to test the syrup consistency.)

Procedure -
Grease a plate which you want to spread the barfi.
Remove seeds from Cardamom and pound using mortar pestle.
Chop nuts and set aside.
Grate jaggery and set aside, it should not have pieces larger than peas.
Start roasting the flour on low to medium heat and slowly add walnut oil one tbsp at a time.The flour will change color in 5-6 minutes. Roast for another minute and add nuts, poppy seeds and cardamom mix well.
Remove the mixture in a plate and set aside.
Add grated jaggery and water in a heavy bottom utensil. Jaggery will melt into syrup. Take about 1/2 cup of tap water in a bowl. We will use this to test the thickness of jaggery syrup.
Once the Jaggery is boiled, drop one drop it in the cold water bowl. If it forms a candy like ball then the syrup is ready. If not, boil it further till the drop is converted into a *hard candy ball. (Takes about 5-7 minutes on low-medium heat)
Remove syrup from the flame and quickly add roasted flour.
Mix thoroughly but as quickly as possible.
Pour in the greased plate, cut with sharp knife while its hot into 1"x1" pieces.
Let it cool down and separate the pieces. Store in airtight container.

Tips -

• *Approximate hard candy stage for jaggery is 265-270F. I have rarely used candy thermometer while making these kind of syrups. But if you have one use it.
• This stage of syrup is also called as 'two thread' or don taaree paak. 
• Best way to practice the syrup consistency is making rice crispy brittle or peanut brittle. I learned it with churmure/murmure ladoo. 
• Traditionally this vadi/barfi is made for kids when they are teething.