Malpua is a traditional North Indian sweet of sugar syrup coated pancakes made with all-purpose flour, curd (yogurt), spices, khoya (dried milk solids) and topped with nuts. Malpua recipe is often made during festivals, special occasions and are a street food as well. Soft and fluffy on the inside, yet crisp and lacy on the outside, these syrup dipped pancakes are a real treat – especially when you serve them with Rabri!
What is Malpua
Malpua is a traditional Indian sweet of sweetened pancakes. They are quite different from your regular pancakes though. Fluffy and crispy at the edges these cardamom and fennel scented pancakes are coated with sugar syrup, topped with nuts and sometimes served with thickened sweetened milk – which we call rabri.
There are many malpua variations that you will find across various parts of India. Some recipes have fruits like mashed banana, mango pulp or grated coconut added to the batter. Making malpua recipe at home can be a very time-consuming endeavor; many recipes call for the batter to be fermented overnight. In my fluffy version of this delightful Indian sweet, I have opted to omit the long fermenting time and replace it with some leavening.
As a result, this yummy recipe can be made in just over an hour. Malpua does have a slight tang to them as the batter is either fermented or made with curd (yogurt).The method for making malpua generally calls for deep-frying the pancakes in ghee. While I stuck to ghee because of its high smoke point and nutty flavor, I opted to shallow fry the pancakes instead, which requires far less fat.
Once you try making my simple recipe for quick malpua, I’m fairly certain you’ll fall in love with this dessert. Now let’s get to the kitchen!
How to Make Malpua Recipe
Make Batter
1. In a mixing bowl, add 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon fennel seeds (saunf), and 3 to 4 crushed green cardamom pods (discard the peels) or ⅓ teaspoon cardamom powder. Mix the dry ingredients well.
2. Add 3 tablespoons grated khoya (mawa or dried milk solids) and 3 tablespoons curd/yogurt. Please use fresh yogurt.
You can use whole milk powder or dairy whitener instead of khoya.
3. Add ½ cup water.
4. Begin to stir with a wired whisk.
5. Stir to a thick to medium-thick, flowing batter without any lumps. Cover and allow the batter to rest for 30 to 40 minutes or up to about 2 hours at room temperature.
6. The below photo shows the consistency of the malpua batter.
Prepare Nuts
7. While the batter is resting, blanch the almonds and pistachios in hot water. Keep them soaked in hot water for 20 to 30 minutes, then peel them.
8. Slice them and keep them aside.
Prepare Sugar Syrup
9. Just before you begin to fry the malpua, prepare the sugar syrup. Heat ½ cup sugar and ¼ cup water. Here I have used raw sugar, hence this golden color.
10. Simmer this mixture on low heat, stirring well so the sugar melts.
11. You need to have a ½ string or 1 string consistency in the sugar syrup. If you cannot achieve these string consistencies then just make a sticky syrup.
The sugar syrup must be kept warm. Keep the sugar syrup pan on top of a bowl or another pan filled with hot water to prevent the sugar from crystalizing. The hot water should touch the base of the pan containing the sugar syrup.
Fry Malpua
12. Heat 4 tablespoons ghee in a pan or griddle. Here I am shallow frying the malpua instead of deep-frying them.
You can deep fry them if you prefer, though you’ll need much more ghee.
For a lighter version, you can use any neutral flavored oil for frying. You can also use less oil and cook them like pancakes.
13. Add 3 pinches (⅛ teaspoon) baking soda to the malpua batter before frying. Instead of baking soda, you can add ½ teaspoon of baking powder.
14. Mix very well. This is important as you want the baking soda to be mixed evenly.
15. Lower the heat. Either take 2 to 3 tablespoons or a ladle of the batter and gently pour it on the hot ghee.
Spread the batter lightly with the back of the spoon. Make 2 to 4 malpua at a time, depending on the size of the pan. Fry on low to medium heat.
16. When the base becomes light golden, gently and carefully flip over using a spatula.
17. Flip once more and fry the other side.
18. Flip again and fry till they have a crisp edge and are golden. Working in batches, continue to fry malpua this way, adding more ghee if required.
19. Drain them on paper towels to remove excess fat.
Dip Malpua In Sugar Syrup
20. After a quick drain on paper towels, immediately place the fried malpua in the warm sugar syrup.
Just a reminder the sugar syrup should be hot or warm as mentioned above.
21. Gently coat them with the sugar syrup with the help of a spoon or small tongs.
22. Remove the malpua and place them in a serving tray or plate.
23. Pour some rabri on top. Garnish with the chopped almonds, pistachios and crushed saffron. Serve rabri malpua hot or warm.
Antarasingh