Mando (A popular sweet in Konkan / Saraswat Cuisine)

Mando

A very popular sweet dish Konkan / Saraswat cuisine !!! (A deep fried puri with sweet filling) !!!

Recipe from Femina

Ingredients

Flour 220 gm

Warm Water 1/2 cup

Ghee 2 teaspoon [ 5 gm ]

Cardamom crushed 6 pods [ 10 gm ]

Beaten Rice [ poha ] 1 cup [180 gm ]

1 cup [ 225 gm ] powdered sugar

Til [ sesame seeds ] 100gm

A pinch of salt

My recipe

Makes: 7 mandos

Ingredients

Please prepare filling first

For the filling:

5 tablespoon white poha (white aval / beaten rice)

1 tablespoon white til (white sesame seeds)

3 tablespoon sugar

¼ teaspoon cardamom powder

Method

Wash til seeds and drain out water. Spread it on a kitchen towel for drying.

In a pan or iron kadai, gently dry roast poha  and dried  til seeds separately on a medium to low heat until crisp. Finally mix with sugar and cardamom powder. Transfer all the filling into a small mixer bowl and make a fine powder. Filling is ready now.

For the puri:

200 ml / 1 cup (Indian standard measuring cup of 200 ml / 8 oz capacity)

½ cup warm water

1 pinch salt

300 ml oil / ghee for frying

Method

Knead the flour, salt and water to form a dough (first start with 1/4 cup warm water and add extra 1 - 3 tablespoon water and make a  soft dough). Make small balls and roll them out to form puris. Deep fry them in medium hot oil, and take them out before they become crisp. Keep the filling when the puri is very hot. Otherwise filling won't spread properly.

Take a bit of the filling and place in one half of each puri. Fold it over to form a semi - circle, and press the edges together.

 Immediately place again about 2 teaspoon of the filling in a heap in the middle and for the puri across, to form a triangular shape and seal / press the edges tightly. Do not allow the filling to go outside.

Stack them one on top of the other so that they retain their shape. Sprinkle a little of the filling on top of each mando. As they cool, they will become crisp. Mandos are ready now.

Final recipe suggestion from Susheela maayi / Susheela Bhat (Author - Konkani Paachaka Sahayi)

Heat a non stick pan or dosa / roti tawa on medium heat. Reduce the heat to low. Arrange 3 - 4 prepared mandos and gently dry roast (like chapati) until golden spots appear on both the sides (do not add oil or ghee). Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon filling on the top of the mando. This cooking tip is very useful to remain mandos crisp (see the first photo). Cochin GSB cuisine follows dry roasting method for the  final step of mando preparation.

Recipe from Jaya Maayi’s cookery book – Dakshin Bharath Dishes

1 cup maida (all purpose flour)

1/2 cup warm water

2 teaspoon ghee

6 cardamom pods

1 cup powdered beaten rice

1 cup powdered sugar

1 handful til seeds (sesame seeds)

1 pinch salt

Ghee / oil for frying

Method

Wash til seeds. Dry and roast them. Dry roast 1 cup of beaten rice and powder it in mixer. Prepare a blend by mixing powdered sugar and cardamom along with til seeds and powdered beaten rice and keep aside. Prepare dough as  for puri using a pinch of salt and maida with warm water. Shape portions of the dough into small balls and roll into puris. Heat ghee in a frying pan and fry puris in it, one by one. Take out puri before crisp. At once place a small quantity of the above blend near one edge and fold a third of the puri over it. Immediately place about 2 teaspoon of the blend in a heap in the middle and fold the puri across, to form a triangular shape. Seal the edge by pressing. Prepare mandos thus and keep them one over another in a row, each a little forward to the one below it (like tiles on roof). Mandos become crisp, as they cool (Note – Mandos can be prepared with Bengal gram panchakajai or a mixture of fine pop rice powder, powdered sugar, til seeds and powdered cardamom, instead of the above blend).