623. Thandai Malpua with Strawberry Compote

Happy Holi Everyone

Any festival celebration means food and lots of it. Food, fun, colour, rituals all make a successful celebration. If one is missing then the celebration or festival is not complete. Our #FoodieMonday #Bloghop group decided on #Holi as our 83rd theme. With Holi it means that I’ve been with this wonderful group for now a year. My first post for the group was a fusion Holi theme. I remember preparing the dish not knowing exactly how it will be received by the other members of the group. Must say they were a friendly group and immediately felt as though I’d known them for years. Its been a great journey of learning new recipes, new cuisines, how to improve photography, drawing strength from eachother in times of need and sharing our lives.

We are constantly chatting over whatsapp in spite of the different time zones. When its our bedtime, Preethi all the way from Singapore will send us a good morning message. When we are awake, Rupal in US is in lala land. None of us have met as such in person but we still are together. If I had to describe them then this is what I would say about each of them:
Alka— quiet, professional and a mentor
Sujata — motherly, poised and with a good sense of humour
Preethi— our morning greeter, well wisher, full of life
Pushpita —- friendly, kind and our tech wizard
Saswati—- elegant, strong and courageous
Waagmi — helpful, friendly and a thinker
Kriti — the youngest in our group is energetic, an achiever and bubbly
Rupal — timid, funny and sensible
Nisa —quiet, our tech wizard and helpful

Making malpuas has been on my ‘to do’ list for like forever. I simply love the crispy, crunchy sweet malpuas. However, today I decided to make a slightly healthier version (before my daughter and hubby throw me out of the house for ruining their diet plans!), so no frying and not making it overtly sweet. Wanted to try the malpuas with a fruit compote instead of rabri so planned to use fresh orange and strawberries. I loved the fusion malpuas. Not feeling guilty about popping a couple in my mouth as I kept on reminding hubby and daughter that they are not fried! While I’m typing out this post am tempted to sneak out of the room and have another one!
So here’s my version of malpuas. Different, a bit healthy, fruity and a satisfying dessert.

THANDAI MALPUA WITH STRAWBERRY COMPOTE
Makes 14 mini malpuas

For the malpua batter:
½ cup wheat flour (atta)
½ cup plain flour(maida)
¼ cup semolina (sooji)
4 tbsp yogurt
½ cup milk
⅓ – ½ cup water
2 tbsp thandai masala powder
1 tbsp hot milk
4-6 strands of saffron
¼ tsp soda bicarbonate (baking soda) ( to be added just before cooking)

For the syrup:
½ cup sugar
¼ cup water
4-6 strands of saffron
1 tbsp of finely cut orange rind

For the strawberry compote:
1 cup of chopped fresh strawberries
¼ cup fresh orange juice
1-2 tbsp sugar (optional)

2-3 tbsp of ghee (clarified butter)
2 tbsp of finely chopped nuts

Preparation of malpua batter:

1. Soak the saffron in the hot milk for 10-15 minutes.
2. Mix the flours,semolina and thandai masala powder together in a bowl.
3. Add milk, water, saffron milk and yogurt to the flour mixture.
4. Mix well to form a thick batter. Cover and let the batter rest for 30 minutes.

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Thandai mousse

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Kuzhi Paniyarams