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Friday, September 7, 2007

Chiroti/Chirote --- RCI Karnataka

Since the time I have started blogging, I have realized even more, that two states share more than just a border. The cities/villages that are closer to the borders have a lot of things common culture wise and food wise. This post of mine explores one such sweet that is a favorite in two states, that are close to my heart.
Chiroti as it is known in Karnataka, or Chirote as it is known in Maharashtra, is a flaky, unleavened pastry that is very traditional in both cuisines. No wedding in Karnataka is complete without the traditional Chiroti served with Almond Milk or Badami Halu. In Maharashtra, it is generally made as one of the Pancha-Pakwanna (5 sweets) on festival days. Making Chiroti can get a little tedious if you are making a large batch all by yourself. So when these delightful Chirotis have to be made on a large scale, all the ladies of the family get together and make them. Talk about Division of Labor ;) Of course, there are easier methods too, which none other than our very own Asha has described here; but I am going to describe the detailed and slightly complicated version...why not, after all, its my mom who made them...I just was taking notes and clicking pictures ;) So this post is really on behalf of my mom and she would like to send this entry for RCI-- Karnataka, hosted by Asha and brainchild of Lakshmi.


Ingredients: (makes about 15)
1/3 cup Maida (All Purpose Flour)
1/3 cup Fine Rawa (Sooji)--use the fine variety as the coarse one does not blend in well.
2 tbsp Oil approx. (Vegetable/Canola)
Water to make the dough
Rice flour to dust
2 tbsp tup (ghee) beaten till fluffy and creamy (unsalted butter can also be used)
Tup (Ghee) to fry (Vegetable/Canola oil can aslo be used but it won't give the same flavor as ghee, what we call 'khamanga pana') :)

For the syrup:
1 cup sugar
Water enough to soak the sugar
Few saffron strands
2-3 tsps Lemon juice

Method:
Mix the maida and rawa together and add the oil to it. Mix together. You know the oil is sufficient when the maida-rawa mixture becomes crumbly, ie. when you hold the mixture in your hand it should stick together. Then add water and make a dough like you make for chapatis. The dough should be pliable. Keep aside, covered, for 3 hours at least. The longer it sits, the better.
After 3 hours, take the dough and divide into small balls (size can vary). Now, divide each ball further into 3 more balls. The idea is to make 3 chapatis out of these and layer them on top of each other. Roll out a thin chapati ,without applying a lot of pressure, out of each ball.

Take one chapati, brush some beaten tup (ghee) on the surface...

...dust some rice flour over it and then put another chapati over it.

Apply the beaten ghee on this chapati and dust with the rice flour and place the third chapati on top. Repeat the process of applying ghee and flour. Now roll this layered chapati to make a roll like this,

Do not pat the roll and flatten it with your hand. Instead, pick it up with both hands and pull very gently from each end a little to flatten it. If you pat it to flatten it, the air gets pressed and your Chiroti will not be fluffy.

Now cut this roll into small pieces like this.

Make the sugar syrup before you begin to fry the Chiroti. Take the sugar and add water just enough to soak the sugar. Put it over the heat and let it come to a 2 string consistency. Turn off the heat and add the saffron and lemon juice. Keep aside.
Heat the ghee. Take each small piece and roll out gently without applying too much pressure. The layered edges should be intact.

Once the ghee is hot enough, drop in the rolled out chirotis and fry.

Hold each piece vertical in the hot ghee for a minute, so that it fluffs up.

Then leave it to turn golden brown.

Remove from the ghee and drop into the sugar syrup,

Coat it well with the syrup and place it in a strainer. Tilt the strainer slightly so that the excess syrup will flow down. Let them cool and then store in an airtight container at room temperature. These last for 7-10 days.

Here is a look at the final product....

Variations:
Instead of dunking them in the sugar syrup, you can also dust them with white powdered sugar while they are still hot. See here.

You can serve these with some Almond Milk. See here, and here.

These can even be stored plain without dipping them in the sugar syrup, which last for about 15 days and can be consumed with any dry chutney.

Finally, the Unsweetened Chiroti can be transformed into a delicious kheer/payasa, which is my favorite and the recipe of which, comes from my grandmother's Karnataka roots.

Chiroti Payasa:
Heat about a cup of milk. Add sugar according to your liking. Crumble the unsweetened Chirote into the milk once it comes to a boil. Let it come to a boil again and then remove from the heat. Add saffron. Garnish with chopped almonds. Let it sit for a while and then serve. The longer it sits, the thicker it will get and the better it will taste :)

57 comments:

Chef Jeena said...

Hey Baatukli I love this recipe it looks delicious! Great pics :D

Suma Gandlur said...

I love the detailed description you gave.
Chiroti is one rich dessert which is usually served in Karnataka weddings.They are served like this big pooris, which I love.

Jyothi said...

Great recipe for great event. Nice presentation. Thanks for sharing.

Ashwini said...

Tee one has to be so patient to try this...hats off to the women of that generation! Just looking at the pics tired me :-)

Manasi said...

SAhiiiiiii!!! Needs a alot of patience to do this! Looks yummy!!

bee said...

i've never eaten chirotis, but the way you describe them is just yum.

FH said...

Thank you Tee's mum, Chirotes look great. Better than mine in fact with lot of layers.Great entry Tee, thank you so much.Very authentic sweet indeed.

Padma said...

Great entry, will have to try this, its so simple thanks to your neatly explained photos...Good one dear Tee!

Sharmi said...

what a beautiful creation. looks so yum. the stepwise pics are simply perfect. beautiful entry.

Latha said...

Hey tee,
This is also called Khaaja or Madatha Khaaja in Andhra. Its such a yummy desert but so tedious to make. Wish i could just come over to u're place to try some :-)
Cheers
Latha

Laavanya said...

Wow these look so good. I've never tastes these but they are so tempting.

Richa said...

looks amazingly delicious :) i've tasted 'em, so gooooood!
mala vatale tula khoop patience ahey, then saw made my ur mom ;)
btw, whenever i hear chiroti mala ashok saraf chi ek movie athavtey where he was a chiroti seller, was too funny he!he!

Pooja V said...

Hey tee these are droolicious. Just loved this post, its v detailed and chirote look so nice.

Roopa (KitchenAromas) said...

Wow, this is amazing! And seems complicated to make too! The kheer/payasa was a signature dish of my grandmom - we called it Appi Paaysa (I bet some kid came up with that name!) :)

Viji said...

wowww mannnnnn it looks very nice and tasty.Cant resist my temptation for it....and the step by step procedure u have shown is admirable.chiroti is one of my fav sweet:-)

bha said...

dasaryachya faralala aai chirote banavite....nice snaps and very informative...thanks for te step by step presentation

musical said...

Tee, i have also eaten chiroti with badami haalu at most weddings in Bangalore :) yummy dessert na! I have seen this in Andhra too.

Great entry for RCI.

Unknown said...

Interesting to know that Maharashtrians also make chirotis. Nice photo illustration there. In Karnataka, its mainly served in weddings and hardly prepared at home. Although, a variation called 'Baadam Puri' is made, its the same recipe as yours but triangular in shape. And ofcourse, appi payasa is made at home too, like Roopa mentioned.

Unknown said...

Oh, another thing, this sweet is the reason why 'fine semolina' is popularly called chiroti rava, especially in KA.

Nupur said...

Oh, my goodness! To me, successful chirote-making is at the highest levels of culinary attainment. Those look gorgeous! Many thanks to your mother for teaching us to make authentic chirote.

evolvingtastes said...

We used to make chirote at home sometimes during Diwali. Now I think I should be just happy looking at your pictures instead of eating the calories, but the texture constrast of the thick milk and crisp chirote sounds too good!

Priyanka said...

Tee, tondat pani suttay chirote baghun, wish i could make some, but havent set up the kitchen in entirety at the new apt. so will have to wait...

Pragyan said...

Hi Tee, This is called "Khajaa" in Oriya. It is available as bhog at Puri Jaganath temple. Though my MIL makes this, I am so busy eating when she makes it that I never follow how the layers are formed :) Thanks for sharing..I will make this

Rajitha said...

yum! it sure is nice when mom's make it :)

Coffee said...

That looks absolutely delicious! and with your pics, OH SO AWESOME!!! This is bookmarked to try! :)

TBC said...

I have never eaten these but I can imagine what they taste like. Liked your mom's entry for JFI;-)

archana said...

Tee chirotes khoopach chaan ahet. Me ajun try nahi kele. Thanks, step by step instructions khoop helpful ahet.
Gr8 entry :)

Kamini said...

Yummy yummy.... fabulous job with the pictorial. I need a 5 mile walk after seeing all these pictures. I must have put on 1/2 a kg just drooling over them, they look so good...

Latha Narasimhan said...

I too planned to post chiroti in a day or two! But is it a karnataka special? My recipe is slightly different as I learnt it in North India. May be yours is karnataka version. Definitely yummy dish!

Viji said...

Lovely entry Tee, moughtwatering. Viji

Srivalli said...

Tee...lovely looking ones. This is a famous sweet dish in Andhra too, as Latha said. Its called kaaja. My mom also used to do this but I have never tried....thanks for sharing your's moms recipe!

sra said...

Oh God, I've a hilarious story to relate - only after reading your post I realise what I made that day was chiroti (well, the procedure is the same) - may post the story some day!

Pravs said...

I think i did have this sweet @ friends one time and it was delicious. Thanks for this step by step presentation...makes it easy to follow.

Namratha said...

This looks simply amazing ...kudos to your mom! I love Chiroti..send me some will ya :)

Roopa said...

awesome dear :) i am not lover of chiroti but looks great. i have never tried it but looks your version is different than the ususal ones

zobars said...

Hi there, I came across your blog from the cooker blog and I must say I am a fan now and you will be on my blogroll too. I am glad I found your blog. How fun it is to find new and exciting blogs ???

priyah said...

if only this was an interactive blog..i would have grabbed all of the chiroti and eaten them...yumm...yumm...

Swaruchy said...

Nice one Bhatukli....Loved this one.....:-)
In telugu we call the same dish 'Kaaja' but we do not add Sooji to it.
Nice one.... :-)

TheCooker said...

Missed this post.
Making chirote is the ultimate in 'paaka kaushalya'. Ajoon karayachi himmat zhali nahi.
Chirote look zhakaas!

Arts said...

Wow.. tondala paani sutla te baghun :D
Mala watat hota ki chirote maharashtrian padartha aahe.. anyways, thx for the lovely step by step recipe.. weekend la mast aaramshir dupari try karte :D

Bindiya said...

Hi Tee,
very well presented ,looks yum!

Prema Sundar said...

Hi, I have never tasted this before. But Now I wanted to try this for sure sometime cos of the beautiful pics and clear explanations given by you.thanks

Kajal said...

I visit three people blog and every one post for RCI-event and I also post for RCI-event. Your entry is different and delicious. Nice step by step presentation. We also made this type of dish and called as “Satta” (in Gujarati). Rocking dish....

Suganya said...

Now that the secret is out, you can very well take pics for yr blog in front of yr mom :)

SMN said...

Hey Tee

Nice presentation. i tated it in bangalore and im in love.. with it. thnx for the recipe

Finla said...

Wow it looks delicious.I would just imagine the stickyness of the syrup.
Step by step recipe is very good.
Easy wat to learn something new, atleast for me.

Timepass said...

Wow, the step by step pics are tempting me to try out this recipe soon.

Bharathy said...

I love chirotis..Lovely step by step instructions!!!Thanks for sharing this Great post,tee!!

EC said...

wow, i have always seen this in sweet shops only, never bothered to even think how it is made...now i have the recipe..thanks

SeeC said...

Wow !!! thats awesome. Step-by-step picture is tempting.
I am really drooling over.

sam said...

hey tee
hats off babe!! you have the patience to not only make chirotis but also photograph each step of the way. it makes the whole process seem vey dooable, also ur microwave besan ladoos look so easy to make , i am gonna make them tomorrow itself. bye bye to the wok-stirring days, if this turns out good.

hamara_ghar said...

Great detailed description and step by step photos. At home my mom makes them same way but after cutting the rolled pieces we place it spiral side up for rolling it into a circle so on frying it puffs up like a flower. We call it Khaja. It is served the same way in syrup or powdered sugar. Delicious.

Meera said...

Very nice post! Loved the pictures, recipe & metal "polpaat" too!:-)

Spoons n Ladles said...

they look awesome.. i'm drooling already :)

Unknown said...

Looks yummy... I have to try this..Bookmarked!!

Uj said...

I made this sometime back and blogged about it too.. IT came out wonderful. Thanks a lot Tee

Valarmathi Sanjeev said...

Very new to me. Great recipe. Neatly explained. Looks delicious.