Sindhi Khorak
Sindhi khorak roasts wheat flour with ghee and edible gum into a crumbly sweet kept through the cold months.
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40 mintotal
Prep 10 min · Cook 30 min
- Serves
- 2
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Spice
- None
Ingredients
Quantities are for 2 servings.
You'll need: Stovetop.
Method
Melt a portion of the ghee in a robust, heavy-bottomed pan. Submerge the edible gum (gond) and fry with vigilance over a very low flame until the crystals bloom fully. Extract, allow to cool, and lightly fracture them using a rolling pin.
In the ghee left in the pan, toast the finely chopped nuts gently until golden and crisp. Remove and set aside.
Deposit the remaining ghee into the pan. Upon heating, fold in the whole wheat flour. Commit to a continuous, rhythmic roasting motion over a low-medium flame.
Roast the flour with absolute patience until it undergoes a Maillard transformation, turning a profound dark brown and heavily perfuming the kitchen with toasted aromatics.
Cease the heat. While the wheat base retains intense heat, fold in the poppy seeds. The residual thermal energy is sufficient to roast the seeds instantaneously.
Stir in the crushed gond, toasted nuts, cardamom powder and powdered sugar. Mix hard; the residual heat melts the sugar just enough to bind everything together.
Tip the hot mixture straight into a greased steel tray and press it flat and firm with the back of a bowl.
While the slab is still warm, score the surface with a sharp knife to define sharp geometric squares or diamonds. Allow a complete 2-3 hour resting period to crystallize and harden before breaking apart.
2–3 hr
How to tell it's done
Dense and crumbly squares, packed heavily with nuts and the distinct crunch of poppy seeds.
Getting it right
Tip
Unlike Punjabi Panjiri which remains a loose powder, Khorak is firmly pressed into a thali while hot, turning it into dense, sliceable squares (like a barfi).
What to serve it with
Eaten mostly on winter mornings, and traditionally gifted to new mothers.
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