Diwali in my house means a whole LOT of sweets, and each year I do my best to create something new and fun to add to our sweets ensemble. Keeping with tradition, my family makes 7 different sweets to celebrate the wonderful festival of lights. Here is my recipe to make shahi shakharpare
A quick Diwali story –
Diwali is the celebration of light celebrated throughout South Asia. It is the classic holiday which remembers the good in people, happiness and the triumph of light over dark, and good over evil. In Hindu mythology it is the day that Lord Ram returned to his Kingdom of Ayodhya (in Uttar Pradesh in Northern India) with his brother Lakshman and his wife Sita whom he rescued from Ravan the king in Sri Lanka.
To celebrate all these things we make loads of sweets, a few savoury items, light lamps (diyas) in our homes and decorate the house with floral designs (rangoli/kolam), flowers and loads of colour. It’s my absolute favourite festival of the year
The name Shahi Shakharpare literally means Royal Sugar Biscuit. These are fried and then soaked in a yummy sugar syrup before getting topped with crushed pistachio and silver foil. These are DEFINITELY a little bit luxe purely because of the effort needed to shape these cute biscuits. You have to make each one individually – don’t worry, these will only be made once in the year in my house. The other name, Champakali, which is what this sweet is called in Maharashtra (my home region in India) means bud of the Champa flower owing to the bud-like shape of the sweet.
The syrup is something special too. I use a simple syrup recipe (1 part sugar, and 1 part water) but elevate this using some fresh cardamom pods, rose water and a touch of lime juice. The cardamom and rose are what makes this syrup and sweets super flavourful. The lime juice compliments the sweetness, and it just completes the sweet. Trust me, you won’t go back!
To make these sweets, start by making the dough and letting it rest for 20-30 minutes to let the gluten develop.
To make these bud shapes, take a small ball of dough roughly one inch in diameter. Roll out the dough into an oval shape roughly 2mm thick (optional, but to get a clean result, cut this into a rectangle). The oval shape is important!
Let’s call the short sides B1 and B2 and the long sides A1 and A2.
Now, using a knife make slits through the dough leaving half a centimeter on each side, going across the short side of the rectangle (i.e. parallel to B1 and B2). Remember, the aim is to get slits in the dough, but not slice it up.
Now, use a bit of water along the edges of the dough, and pick up one short end and fold it over to join to the other (i.e. pick up B1 and fold it to B2). Repeat this one more time. To complete this, pinch one side (the A side!).
At this point the slits should should more or less line up, so that they can easily separate. Use your fingers to create a little window, by creating a parting in the slits. Now loop the non-pinched side through this partition and roll this through and then pinch the end!.
Here is the recipe card to follow. My recipe will make roughly 25-30 bud shapes, depending on how large you make the dough balls. You will make a bit of extra syrup, but I save this! When serving these I do a quick dip in the syrup again and then top these with pistachios. Never. Waste. The. Syrup!
Shahi Shakharpare
Ingredients
The Dough
- 500 g plain flour
- 200 g ghee
- pinch salt
- 1 cup chilled water
- Ghee for frying
Syrup
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 1 cup water
- 3-4 cardamom pods
- 1/2 tsp rose water
- 1/4 tsp fresh lime juice
- toppings – crushed pistachio, rose petals and or silver foil
Instructions
- Sift flour into a large bowl for kneading
- Add salt, and ghee to the flour
- Use your hands to work the ghee into the flour until the mixture resembles loose sand
- Gently add some of the chilled water, roughly 2 tbsp at a time and knead the dough. Continue to add water until the dough just starts to form and is no longer sticky
- Brush the dough with a very small amount of ghee (enough to just lightly coat the surface) and set the dough aside in the bowl under a damp tea towel for 20 to 30 minutes.
- In the meantime, prepare the sugar syrup by adding the sugar and water to a pot over low-medium heat
- Don't mix the syrup otherwise the sugar will crystalise, but watch the pot closely to prevent burning and sputtering
- Add the cardamom pods once the sugar is all dissolved
- Continue to boil the syrup until it is ready. Dip a spoon into the syrup and drop a small smount of the syrup into cool water. If it sinks and retains the ball shape, the syrup is ready. Alternatively cool the syrup slighty on the spoon and use your index finger to pick some of the syrup up. Press your thumb against your index finger and seperate – if the syrup is forming clear strings that hold for at least 1 cm, the syrup is ready
- Remove the syrup off the heat, and add the rose water and lime juice. Set this aside to cool completely
- After the dough has rested completly, roll out an inch diameter large ball into an oval shape. It is optional to trim the sides to make a rectange
- Name the short edges B1 and B2 and the long edges A1 and A2.
- Use a small sharp knife to cut slits through the dough, parallel to the B edges. These slits should start 0.5 centimeters from the edge and end 0.5 centimeters from the edge
- Dab some water along the edges (both A's and B's
- Pick up the B2 side and join this edge with B1. Repeat this one more time
- Now pinch the A1 side (which is now folded up so it is shorter than what you began with) to form a little peak
- If you position this pinched peak at the top of your board/working space, the slits should now run vertically. Use your fingers to seperate the slits to create a hold, and two sections. Loop the un-pinched side through this hole and gently pull it through to create the 'knotted look'. Now pinch the un-pinched side and you should have a shape that resembled a flower bud or a leaf
- Set the prepared shape aside under a damp towel, and repeat the steps with all of the dough. Save a small 1 cm piece of dough to test the oil temperature
- Heat ghee or vegetable oil in a Kadhai, deep fryer, or deep pot
- Test the oil to see if it is ready for frying by dropping a small piece of dough (I use half of the reserved dough from above). The oil is ready if bubbles start to form immediately around the dough once it has been dropped into the oil
- Gently drop the prepared dough shapes into the pot/kadhai. I typically cook 4-5 at a time, but this will depend on your pot size. Do not overcrowd the pot and make sure you regulate the temperature. If the dough starts cooking too quickly and immediately turns brown, turn the heat off and remove all the dough pieces to allow the oil to cool before continuing. This is important to stop anything from burning
- Fry the shapes until they are beautifully golden brown and set aside on some kitchen paper to help soak up excess oil. Let these cool completely to room temperature
- Once the fried shapes have cooled, soak these in the sugar syrup for 30 seconds, before removing them and setting aside on a plate. Sometimes I re-soak the Champakali if I feel they haven't soaked up much of the syrup
- When ready to serve, top the Champakali with chopped pistachios, some rose petals and some silver foil (if you find it!)
