Sweet Tukdi/Shankarpali is a deep fried flour cookie often made in India during Diwali (festival of lights) or any other festive occasions or just as a snack to munch on during teatime or when guests arrive. They are deep fried, crisp, flaky sweet cookies (cut in diamond or square shapes) made with a flour-semolina dough. And as promised in my post of Instant Rasmalai, I have come with this recipe using the leftover syrup. Mangaloreans make a savory spicy variety of tukdi (deep fried flour diamonds) and in Maharashtra (western part of India) shankarpali, the sweet variety is more famous. Normally, sweet tukdi or shankarpali is made by adding sugar to the flour dough. I have an easy method to make these. As I have told in my previous posts, I love sweets, especially rasmalai or rasgullas. I had just made a batch of instant rasmalai which uses readymade rasgullas (cottage cheese balls in sugar syrup) and there was lot of leftover syrup. So these sweet cookies or shankarpali are made making use of this syrup.
In my endeavors and experiments in cooking and baking, I try not to waste any food or ingredient and try to make use of everything in different ways. My normal method of cooking is; see what I have in the pantry and refrigerator and try to set my menu around that. With the syrup from the rasagullas lying in the refrigerator since a couple of days, I decided to make use of them in making my sweet tukdi or shankarpali for evening tea. No extra sugar needed. That syrup lends just the right amount of sweetness! So every time I make my Instant rasmalai, I make these and store them in an airtight container to enjoy with my evening tea. With the festival season in India just beginning; we have Diwali, Ganesh Chaturthi, Gowri puja, Gokul Ashtami or Krishnashtami etc. coming up, my Easy and Instant Rasmalai and Sweet tukdi/shankarpali with the leftover syrup are the perfect sweets to make!!
UPDATED JUNE 14, 2021:
Made another batch of my favorite rasmalai and ended up frying up some sweet tukdis too with the leftover syrup albeit using whole wheat flour this time. Totally satisfied and happy me!
Hope you make these soon and enjoy it as much as me and my family has! Happy Cooking/Eating!
Step-by-step method:
1 ½ cups maida or all purpose flour (or whole wheat flour) 2 to 3 tablespoons fine suji 2 to 3 tablespoons hot ghee or clarified butter (or oil) Pinch of salt Sugar syrup leftover from rasgullas (after making instant rasmalai) Oil for deep frying
Instructions
In a mixing bowl, stir the flour, suji and salt with a whisk or spoon. Add the hot ghee.
Mix with fingers till the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Add the required amount of sugar syrup to make a smooth and firm dough which holds together.
Keep aside covered for about half an hour. Heat the oil for deep frying in a pan. Knead the dough again to make it soft and pliable and divide the dough into 3 parts. Take one part, dust it in flour and roll to a large disc (do not make it too thin). With a pizza cutter, pastry cutter or knife, cut the discs into diamond shapes.
Gently remove the flour diamonds with a spatula and separate them. Once the oil is hot (if you drop a small piece of the dough in the hot oil, it should rise immediately) and ready, slowly slide all the cut diamonds into the hot oil (take care not to splash hot oil on yourself) and reduce the heat immediately.
Fry them on medium low heat till they are crisp and golden brown (turning them often).
Remove and place on paper towels to blot out the excess oil. Continue with the rest of the dough and make tukdis. Cool and serve with your evening tea or coffee or when guests arrive. Store in an airtight container.
Note: Do try these and let me know how they turned out!!
