Chunna- Husked Wheat Pudding

Hope you had a fantastic start to 2011...Wishing you all a great year ahead with loads of success and happiness.

We are looking forward to this year very much, have some very interesting things coming up this year and are very excited. Also hope that this year will be a very good one for the taste buds and the culinary creativity.

The first recipe this year is a traditional Rajasthani dish, one of our favourites, and I make it quite often. It's made with husked wheat kernels and milk... it's normally had with sugar and a lot of ghee (clarified butter) - but one can avoid these also. This is a winter dish and tastes absolutely heavenly. To be served piping hot!

Hope you like this dish as much we do :-) 

Ingredients

1 cup - husked wheat kernels 
3/4 cup - water 
4 1/2 cup - low fat milk (may need more) 
1/4 tsp - cardamom powder 
saffron strands 
Add sugar according to taste and a little / loads of ghee according to the waistline :-) while serving the dish. 

Method

1. Put the wheat kernels and water in a pressure cooker (without closing the lid) and cook for 2 minutes on high flame, stirring continuously. 
2. Add 3 1/2 cups of milk and mix well. Cover the lid and pressure cook for 1 whistle/ring on high flame. 
3. Lower the heat and pressure cook for 2 whistles/ring. 
4. Open the lid and transfer the cooked wheat to another metal utensil (the wheat may stick to the bottom, avoid scraping it as it has a burnt taste) 
5. Place the utensil on a heavy bottomed pan and place the pan on the heat. Add the cardamom powder, saffron strands and 1 cup of milk and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the wheat kernels are soft, stirring continuously. (take care that it doesn't stick to the bottom) 
6. Add the ghee and sugar and serve hot. 
7. You might need to add a little more milk and bring to boil again to correct the consistency, if not serving immediately but later.

Sending this to Jyoti's Winter Warmers. 


Enjoy!