Gulab Jamun

                                           

Naming a mithai is as important as its creation because part of the allure of a mithai is the anticipation of eating it.  Imarti (Amrati), Naan Khataai, Rasgulla are good examples of successful Naamkaran of mithais. In this discussion, Gulab Jamun is an interesting name.  Gulab means rose, although  Gulab could also mean the essence (water) of flowers.  Jamuns are berries that grow on tall trees, dark purple in color and juicy and sweet when ripe.  So perhaps a Halwaai, seeing these sweet delights swimming in scented(perhaps with the

J)

 essence of rose) sweet water was reminded of the juiciness of the dark jamuns. Gulab Jamuns are the best mithai item for a winter day or night party.  Served warm with some ice cream on the side, they are the perfect finish for a perfect lunch or dinner.
You can make Gulab Jamuns really fast with Gits packets that can be bought from Indian stores but if you really want to make them taste like Junta Sweet Home (Jodhpur's famous sweet shop) then you have to put a little bit of effort and have to set aside some calories, because no self respecting Marwari makes mithai in oil.  Gulab Jamuns have to be fried in Ghee for the real Marwari taste.
So, the most important ingredient for Gulab Jamuns is mawa which should be fresh and pure and smooth, i.e. without any lumps. If you cannot get it from the stores then it can be made at home which of course is a bit time consuming process. However, as I like to remind my daughters, compared to what I had to do in the 80s and 90s for making mawa at home, today it takes no time at all given the availability of half and half, and nonstick pans. 
Ingredients

250 gms fresh mawa

40 gms maida

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 cup ghee (clarified butter) for frying

Making syrup

In a thick bottomed pan put sugar and add 1/2 cup water and let it boil. Keep on stirring it till sugar dissolves and starts boiling. Switch off the flame after two minutes. Syrup is ready.

In a bowl take mawa and maida and knead thoroughly to make a homogegous mixture. Now make twenty balls of this mixture. In a frying pan preferably with two handles (kadahi) pour ghee and let it heat. When ghee is ready for frying then put balls in the pan and fry on slow fire. These balls will be very soft initially so be carefull while turning them. Instead of stirring hold the pan with both hands and move it so these can be fried uniformally. When they are golden brown take out and put in the syrup. Gulab jamuns are ready to serve .

Latcho Drom: The beloved sister & Desert Places, A companion to Latcho Drom

सातों रे भाईड़ों री अम्मा एक बेहनाडली

परणाई रे ए क्यूं , परणाई रे ए क्यूं

She was the beloved one sister of seven brothers..
Why, oh why did you give her away in marriage?
Latcho Drom
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B4aom3IaBQ

Latcho Drom - Have a safe journey (in English) {Aastar Jaijo (in Marwari)} is a film by Tony Gaitlif about Roma gypsies, an ethnic group of people who live in transit, leaving from, arriving at, or traveling in between places that they struggle to call their own.  Roma gypsies are believed to have started aigrati from Rajasthan more than a thousand years ago, reaching far flung places in North Africa and Europe.  The film does the same, taking us from Rajasthan to North Africa to Southern Europe using what Gypsies do the best, singing and dancing and celebrating life. The skits are fluid, changing from one country to the next using strains of music to transition, never talking over, never translating and never altering the rich experience of watching and hearing the songs and dances, the sounds of transit, of struggles and triumphs, and the silences in between.

It is unfortunate that this beautiful film is not available on DVD but if you are one of those lucky luddites who are still clinging to their VHS players, then you can treat yourself to this experience. 

For music and dance lovers, this film is a treasure, with pieces ranging from Kalbeliya dancing and devotional singing, sung for Baba Ramdev (Mhaaro Helo Sambhalo Ji) in Marwar to Flamenco performances in the gypsy neighborhoods of southern Spain.  In Marwar, one of the most magnetic performances is that of Ghazi Khan Manghaniyar singing Kaman Garo Kanhaji with incredible charm and flair on a cool clear desert night - pure enchantment!

Desert Places - A companion to Latcho Drom

This is not your ordinary travelogue.  There are no recommended hotels and no rave reviews of the Hawa Mahal or Fatehpur Sikri.  This is the story of a bold and successful journey that an Australian woman Robyn Davidson undertook when she signed up to become a co-companion of two of the prominent nomadic tribes of the northwest India, the Raika in Rajasthan and the Rabaris in Kutch, in their yearly migratory cycles. Davidson is a seasoned traveler, having undertaken in the past, a more solitary but more rigorous journey across the Australian desert but she seems unprepared at first for the chaos and unpredictability of India, especially Rajasthan, and barely manages to keep her schedule and her wits despite her lofty royal connections, the usual privilege of the white traveler who ventures into the Indian heartland. But this is where all similarity to the curious westerners ends.  As Ms. Davidson starts to eat, drink and walk with the Raika, she acquires a sophistication and a deep understanding of their condition and their struggles to retain their identity, their migration rights. As she outlines the impossibility of their situation, their struggles against the corrupt government authorities and loss of habitat itself, she reveals her own anger and outrage at their exploitation and their vulnerability.  In a defining moment in the book which takes place in an upscale cocktail event in a posh Delhi neighborhood, she's challenged for criticizing the Indian apathy for its own people.  Ms. Davidson shines as she records this event to point out the irony of the situation.  

Thandaai: Holi Hai!!

(Literally translated - The Chill or The Coolness)

रहिबे को घर को मकान होय अट्टादार, हाथ सिलबट्टा पे उछाट्टा दे चलत जाये

द्वार बंधी गैया होय,घर में लुगैया होय बेंकमें रुपैया होए हौसला खिलत जाये

There may not be a recipe for happiness, but here are the ingredients that make up a good life - a tall house, hands dancing on a grinding stone, a cow tied to your doorstep, a lot of money in the bank and a woman in the house. The dancing hands on the silbatta refer to the making of thandaai paste (a silbatta is a set of two stones used for wet grinding).

How times have changed. Food and seasons were once so intertwined that you 


could fill a food calendar that would not need repeating the next month.  Gur (jaggery/molasses) and Til(sesame) for January and Kaachraa/Tindsi(or Tinda) for the summer,  a specific menu for Sheetal Ashtmi and a unique one for the month of Mal. But now, with increasing use of refrigeration, transportation and genetic alteration, people cook with canned and refrigerated items.  Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the convenience of canned beans and frozen peas.  But I think that there was a harmony, a rhythm in the way people lived their life, making the most of every season by adapting and celebrating and this delicate art of living is slowly getting lost.   
Spring is around the corner - all grocery shops have started displaying their brightly coloured bottled cold drinks on the shelves. These drinks are aerated and lack any nutritional value. If they do contain fruit juices, often these are accompanied by preservatives too. The true cold drink of Rajasthan is Thandaai and with a little amount of effort, we can enjoy the taste of this fresh and nutritious cold drink that is incomparable in its flavour and sophistication.

Thandaai is a true cold drink in that it's believed to cool the body from the inside. In the old days making thandaai was a family activity, a celebration of sorts as the grinding was not done by your kitchen blender but carried out on the grinding stone by the men of the house. 

One drink that comes close to its concept is the Mexican/Spanish drink Horchata, made of almonds and some other nuts or grains.  This beverage traces its roots to the middle east and is known as the drink of Gods.  Perhaps this is truly the Spanish cousin of Thandaai. 

With Holi just around the corner make thandaai and offer it to your guests who knock on  your door!
                                                                                

Ingredients required for 4 glasses

Khuskhus (poppy seeds) 4 table spoons

Saunf (fennel seeds) 2 tablespoons

Almonds 20

Blackpepper one table spoon

Green cardamom 5

Dried rose petals half cup

Magaj (cantaloupe seeds dried)

Milk 1 glass

Sugar 6 table spoons

Saffron ( Soaked in water) few strands

Ice cubes for serving

In a grinder take all the ingredients except milk and sugar and grind to a powder using a dry grinding blade. This powder can be stored in the fridge for a few weeks and can be used at the time of making the paste.

Dry Thandaai Powder

Next this powder should undergo wet grinding. So add 1/4 cup of water and with the help of a wet grinding blade try to make a fine paste of it. This will take a few rounds of grinding. 



Thandaai Paste
पीसियो जीको घीसियो नै छौनियो जीको जौनियो

- मेहनत किसी और की और नाम किसी और का

Dissolve this paste in 3 glasses of water and strain it through a fine muslin cloth. Add milk and sugar to it. Finally add the saffron and Ice cubes.

As the name indicates Thandaai should be served ice cold.

Tips

• The amount of black pepper is according to taste. This one is for a mild drink.

• Thandaai is traditionally made very sweet but my recipe assumes calorie conscious readers and I suggest less sugar.