Thekua or Thokwa, also known as Thikari/ Tikri and Kajoor/ Khajuria, is a deep fried sweet from the Indian state of Bihar. It is also made in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and the Therai region of Nepal. The Dogri Rutt or Roth of Jammu is a version of this. Thekua is typically made as a ritual offering on the third day of Chhath Puja, a festival dedicated to the Sun God and his consort. It is also made for other festivals including Teej Puja, Navrathri and Savitri Puja. Thekua looks a bit like a patterned/ moulded cookie and is also made and served as a tea time snack. It should be crisp and crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.

It is believed that the name Thekua is derived from the old name for it which is Thokna. Thokna or Thoka Hua (hence Thokua or Thekua) which means “to hammer”. This comes from the dough being pressed hard onto wooden moulds to create the charateristic pattern on Thekuas.

I discovered Thekua purely by chance. I was looking online for Sandesh moulds when Thekua moulds came up as well. A discussion with my food loving niece ended up with her sending me some Saancha, as Thekua moulds are known locally. A friend also send me one. Thekua moulds are made in wood with patterns cut into them. The Thekua dough is pressed onto the moulds to decorate it with patterns before deep frying.

Chhath Puja is celebrated a little after Diwali. So I thought why not make Thekua this year for Diwali. Thekua are made from a dough of whole wheat flour (atta), sugar or jaggery syrup, ghee and cardamom. Chopped cashewnut and coconut bits, sometimes dried fruit like raisins all add flavour.  The dough is shaped into flat rounds, pressed onto decorative Thekua moulds, and deep fried till brown. They become crisp when the cool down and keep for upto a month stored in airtight containers.

Thekua are typically crisp on the outside and softer on the inside, almost like a cookie. This recipe will give you crispy and crunchy exterior with a soft interior, which to me is perfect for a cookie. Thekua should have uneven cracked edges which gives them a rustic appearance. This happens because they’re made from a stiffish dough. The rough edges also make them crisp once the dough rounds are deep fried.

If you don’t have “Sancha” or Thekua moulds, you can still make them. You can use other things to create the pattern on Thekua. A drinking glass with a patterned base, the ends of a metal whisk, the tines of a fork, a cookie cutter, the pattern on a grater, a toothpick or even your fingers can create a design or pattern on the dough. They can be made plain as well.

Thekua can be eaten with tea or coffee or just as a snack. The truly Indian way is to dip it in spicy Indian pickles before eating it.

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It’s Christmas time and the end of the year once again. We don’t celebrate Christmas but I usually bake a selection of cookies at this time. They make perfect gifts to share with family and friends. Basler Läckerli/ Leckerli  is a traditional spiced chewy fruit and nut bar/ biscuit native to Swiss locality of Basel, close to Germany. Läckerli roughly translates from German as delicious or a treat.

Basler Läckerli is made from flour, honey, chopped nuts, candied citrus peel, dried fruit, a bunch of spices and cherry brandy called Kirsch. The resulting dough is baked as a tray bake, brushed with a sugar glaze while still hot, and cut into rectangular pieces.

It is said that Läckerli was invented to serve church dignitaries who attended the Basel Council (1431 to 1449). One account says otherwise as the required ingredients were supposedly unavailable in 15^th century Basel. The first mention of a Swiss Läckerli recipe is in the 1621 handbook of one Abraham Schneuwly of Bern.

What is special about Läckerli from Basel? I’m honestly not sure, but I will tell you that it is something very good. First, these bars are best eaten the day after they’re made, even a week after. The spice flavours develop fully and the bars soften a bit with time. They keep for a more than a month if stored properly. The thin and dry crystallize sugar layer just adds to the overall flavour.

The recipe below is adapted from the numerous recipes I saw on the internet. Most of these are egg free like mine. This tray bake is very easy to make. Mix all the ingredients to a slightly cookie dough like consistency. Using damp or lightly oiled palms and fingers, press the dough out into a parchment lined baking tray. Bake till golden brown but do not over bake. This tray baked confection doesn’t rise much.

Brush a sugar glaze over the top while it is still quite hot. The glaze will dry out when cool. It is important to cut the baked dough into rectangular (or square) pieces while still warm. It is difficult to do once it has cooled.

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I’ve been away from home for the better part of a month. The husband had to travel for work, and I went along and had a short vacation. I’m back and a little late with this month’s Bread Baking Babes bread, Panettone. Judy picked this Panetonne for us to make but I decided to make them as Mini Panetonne. Traditionally Panettone is served on Christmas Day, on Santo Stefano (December 26^th), on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.  It’s served at breakfast, brunch, or after a main meal.

Panetonne is an Italian yeasted sweet bread originally from Milan, usually baked for Christmas and New Year. It is typically a tall round bread with a domed top, baked in round paper moulds. It is made with an enriched butter and egg dough, candied fruit and raisins and has a somewhat cake like texture. The classic Milanese Panettone has a cross cut into its top before it is baked. After it emerges from the oven, it is hung upside down for five to 10 hours to prevent the dome from collapsing and keeping its shape.

The origin of Panetonne is part fact and part fiction. What we know is that Romans ate a sweet egg and raisin bread called Panem Triticum. In 1395, an official decree stated that all Milanese bakeries must sell a sweet white bread called Pan de’ Sciori/ Il Pan del Ton to all on Christmas.

There are many versions of the origin of Panetonne. One credits to Toni, a kitchen boy in the Duke Ludovico of Milan’s court in the 15th century. It is told that the cook accidently burnt the crust of a sweet bread to be served at the Duke’s Christmas dinner table. Toni suggested serving it as it was saying it was a new recipe! Another variation of this story says Toni made a sweet bread using leftover dough, sugar, butter, eggs, candied fruit and such. The Duke and his guests loved whatever was served and El Pan de Toni became a Christmas favourite.

Another story, also in Duke Ludovico’s times, involves one Ughetto, a falconer and son of a captain of the Duke. The young man fell in love with the beautiful daughter of a baker. To impress her, Ughetto pretending to be a baker, baked her a sweet bread loaf with dried fruit. Duke Ludovico’s wife Beatrice was delighted with Ughetto’s bread. She helped persuade the captain to allow Ughetto to marry the baker’s daughter.

Originally Panetonne was a rather plain sweet white bread. Later additions were vanilla, raisins, candied lemon and orange peel and some lemon or orange zest. Nowadays, not-so-traditional Panetonne include things like chocolate, nuts, other dried fruits like pineapple, apricots and cherries, and glazes. Pandoro, a similar sweet bread from Verona is without candied fruits and raisins and much taller.

Typically Panettone is cut vertically into wedge-shaped slices and served with hot drinks or sweet wine. Panetonne is good with sweetened mascarpone, zabaglione.  Panetonne is also good toasted and spread with butter. It’s also wonderful sliced, or toasted and slathered with butter. Leftovers are pretty good as a trifle or bread pudding.

This Panetonne is adapted from this recipe which is uses an overnight starter. It is an easy recipe and doesn’t require hanging the Panetonne upside down. I made my Panetonne with dried apricots and cranberries, raisins and pistachios. I also chose to top half my mini Panetonne with melted dark chocolate.

If you don’t have paper Panetonne moulds, you can use a smaller cake tin. Line it on the bottom and sides with baking parchment. Keep the parchment on the side higher than the side of the cake tin to allow you to bake a taller Panetonne. Otherwise you can bake mini Panetonne using Dariole moulds or small pudding moulds like I did. Muffin tins or paper liners will work too. Just reduce baking time a bit.

The Bread Baking Babes are –

Bake My Day – Karen

Bread Baking Babe Bibliothécaire – Katie

Blog from OUR kitchen – Elizabeth

Feeding my enthusiasms – Elle

Girlichef – Heather

A Messy Kitchen – Kelly

My Kitchen In Half Cups – Tanna

Bread Experience – Cathy

Karen’s Kitchen Stories – Karen

Judy’s Gross Eats – Judy

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It’s Navarathri season once again. Navratri, the Festival of Nine Nights is here again (“Nav” meaning nine and “Ratri” meaning night). This festival lasts ten days and reveres and celebrates the nine forms of the Hindu Godess Durga or Shakti (energy of the universe). The festival is celebrated according to the traditional Lunar calendar and starts on the new moon day falling between September 15thand October 15th every year. Special food for Neivedhyam or ritual offering is cooked for each day. Apart from the usual festive fare, this time I decided to make Coconut or Narkel Sandesh as well. Sandesh made with coconut and moulded in half moon shapes is called Chandrapuli.

Sandesh, pronounced Shondesh, is a milk based sweet from the eastern Indian regions of Bengal and Orissa. It is also made in parts of Bangladesh. Full fat cow’s milk is curdled and drained to make a soft cheese called Chenna. This is kneaded further till soft and cooked with sugar or palm jaggery. The resulting dough is shaped in clay or wooden moulds.

Medieval Bengali literature mentions a sweet called Sandesh though the ingredients aren’t known. The modern Channa/ Chenna based Sandesh is thought have origins in the 17^th century when the first Portuguese settlers in Calcutta brought cheese making techniques with them. Before this curding milk wasn’t done and even considered inauspicious. Bengali sweet makers quickly adopted the cheese making techniques, and became inventive in using cheese in sweets. Thus they say, Sandesh was also born.

The word Sandesh, in Hindi at least, means message. With some stretch of imagination, people tend to liken the confectionery to a sweet and happy message. Which isn’t all that far from the truth, I guess. Sandesh is mildly sweet and is definitely about happiness.

At its simplest is Kanchagolla, a very soft and moist Sandesh rolled into laddoo like balls. Then there’s the beautifully moulded Sandesh that we’re all more familiar with. Sandesh can be creamy or coarse in texture, soft or firmer depending on what variety it is. It can be sweetened with sugar or “nolen gur” or “patali gur”, the famed Bengali date palm jaggery. Sandesh can also be flavoured  according to preference. There is also Jol Bhara Sandesh, a type of moulded Sandesh with a sweet liquid filling. So Sandesh is a sweet that lends itself creative variations.

Kerala is the land of coconuts among other stuff, so I chose to make Coconut or Narkel Sandesh. My friend Sayantani sent me a beautiful set of clay and wooden Sandesh moulds and Navarathri seemed as good a time as any to try them out. It’s just the beginning of palm jaggery season in West Bengal, so I used locally sourced jaggery.

Sandesh is not very difficult to make, though it can take a little time and planning. You have to start with making the Channa/ Chenna. This is done by curdling full fat cow milk with an acidic agent, usually lime juice or yogurt. It is important that the curdling process forms a very soft cheese, softer than for paneer. Cow milk is good for this, as is the amount of lime juice or yogurt used for curdling it. Once the milk cheese has been drained, it must be kneaded well using the heel of the palm. This ensures soft and creamy Channa/ Chenna.

Once the milk cheese is soft and smooth enough it is mixed with sugar or jaggery. Here I’ve also added mawa/ khoya for a more milky taste and fresh coconut. Running the fresh grated coconut in the blender a couple of times produces a smoother mouth feel. This mixture is then cooked over low to medium heat, with frequent stirring until, it becomes less moist and dough like.

The cooked dough is shaped by pressing it into Sandesh moulds. If you don’t have Sandesh moulds, you can roll the dough mixture into small 1 inch balls. You can also decorate them using cookie press moulds.

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Once again, it’s that time of the year when we celebrate Ganesh Chathurthi. This means that a variety of Modaks will be made. This year I’m sharing a recipe for easy to make Saffron Pistachio Modak.

Ganesh Chathurthi, also known as Vinayaka or Pillayar Chathurthi celebrates the birth of Lord Ganesha. Lord Ganesha, the elephant headed Hindu God is worshipped and his blessings are always invoked for auspicious beginnings. He is also very well known for his love of good food especially sweets. Depictions of him always show him carrying a Modak (sweet) in one palm.

Modak or Modakam/ Kozhukattai as refer to them, are made and offered during Ganesh Chathurthi celebrations. They’re round in shape o the bottom with a pointy top where the dumpling wrapper is gathered and sealed. This festival and offerings are different across India though the Modak is a constant.  We offer Modakam or Kozhukattai that are steam cooked rice dumplings with sweet or savoury fillings.

Deep fried Modaks made with wheat flour wrappers are made in other parts of the country. These have a longer shelf life, whereas the steamed kind must be eaten the same day they’re made. In the Northern parts of India Modak also refers to milk sweets which are shaped the same way and offered during Ganesh Chathurthi. Today’s Saffron Pistachio Modak is this type of milk based sweet.

This is an easy recipe to make provided you have two things on hand – mawa/ khoya and the mould for shaping Modak. Mawa/ khoya are thick unsweetened milk solids. It is made by slow cooking and reducing full fat milk till it all the water in milk evaporates. Mawa/ khoya can be bought from local diaries or shops in most parts of India. If you choose to make it, do it ahead, as it is a lengthy process.

The moulds are available in stores or online. They’re available in plastic, metal or wood, if you’re lucky to find them. Use the smaller moulds to make them, as these Modak are rich and should be bite-sized. If you don’t have the moulds, you can still make these. Just shape them in peds or flattish discs.

Otherwise, all you need beyond mawa/ khoya and the moulds are sugar, cardamom, saffron, a little milk to dissolve it in and pistachios. Everything goes into a thick walled pan and is cooked till it comes together as a thick dough like paste. You can adjust the consistency of the mixture with a little milk (if very crumbly) or a little bit of full fat milk powder (if not thick enough) as you cook it. This paste is then shaped while warm using the moulds. Allow them to sit, covered, overnight at room temperature to set and they’re done.

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