Bhoplyachya Ghari/ Ghagri/ Red Pumpkin Sweet crispies

Brain is a  network of innumerable memories, but unlike computer, it works on its own basis....just like that, it threw up a memory at me one morning. It must have been more than a decade ago that I had last had the ghari made by my maternal grand mother...she left more than 5 years ago and since then I also lost 2 maternal uncles, so this ritual of getting goodies whenever my mother traveled to meet them all has practically come to an end. My granny was amazingly ahead of her times when it came to cooking food.
I have said this many times before as well...but this blog and the recipe I plan to share was practically lived by her.. My mother tells me that whenever, there was fresh yield in the farm, it was celebrated by my granny by making a large feast. And once each year, the first pumpkin crop was used in making a large batch of ghari. Large batch meant really large...packing off to every known relative and friend. She was pretty generous with her food, Our batch atleast contained 100 gharis , and here I am making a recipe of 200 gms of red pumpkin- yielding 10-15 and felt super successful...:) 

When I told my mother about ICC and that I had shared this recipe, she got very excited , reminiscing tales of her own mother. I think she plans to make a batch for all her grand children soon. 


I am proud to share this simplest recipe with my friends who plan to cook it with me this month as part of the great Indian Cooking Challenge

Ingredients

200 gms grated red pumpkin

200 gms jaggery- grated

1 tspn cardamom powder

2-3 cups whole wheat flour 

a pinch of salt

oil to deep fry

Method

1) Saute the grated pumpkin in a non stick pan, or use some oil or ghee until the liquid released by the pumpkin is evaporated.

2) Add grated jaggery cook it alongwith until it comes together as a pulp.

2) Add the cardamom powder and salt and let it sit to cool down. 

3) Now start adding the wheat flour to make a soft dough. Do not add water, only use the mixture and use flour as much as required

4) Now make small balls of the dough and roll them out flat, like a puri. (If you wish to eat them fresh, then add little dough and pat the sticky dough flat on plastic sheet using fingers) 

5) Heat oil in a kadhai in the mean time.

6) Fry each puri on low medium heat until it is golden brown.

7) Do not fry for long as it will become crispy soon

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You can eat them for days to weeks and is a nice and healthy snack option for kids