It’s Holi!!! It’s the Festival of Colors.
I didn’t really experience Holi when I grew up. We South Indians did not celebrate it. So, my memories are just seeing few of neighbors running around and dunking each other in color.
That changed though after coming to the States. It was a Culture Adventure overload.
You enter the premises with clean clothes, only to be slapped with a dust of red powder on your left cheek. A bright yellow comes from nowhere just to blind you. Then there’s the use of water guns, dunking people in water. It can get rowdy.
I enjoy seeing my boys’ faces brighten when they are with their friends enjoying Holi. There aren’t any barriers of age. The young, the old, all people enjoy this. In between all these festivities is the food.
This year it’s Malpua. Malpua is a sweetened pancake, generally fried in clarified butter, dunked in flavored sugar syrup, and eaten with thickened milk. This version is on the lighter side. I’ve used very minimal amounts of clarified butter (ghee) and drizzled with some sugar syrup. It doesn’t lack in it’s flavor and quite simple to make. Stuffing it with Pistachio Ricotta Cream makes it an easy meal to just pick up and eat.
- 1 cup All purpose flour
- ½ cup Khoya or thickened ricotta cheese
- 3 tbsp sugar
- ½ tsp cardamom
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- 11/2 cup water(use more or less)
- 2 tbsp ghee or clarified butter to pan fry malpua
- ½ cup pistachios
- 1//3 tbsp ricotta cheese(or khoya)not very thick.
- 2 tbsp white sugar
- ½ cup sugar
- 3 tbsp water
- drops of rose essence(optional)
- saffron (optional)
- pinch of cardamom
- ¼ tsp lemon juice to stop crystalization
- Some almonds or pistachios to garnish
- Take ½ cup sugar in a pan and add water. Let it come to a one string consistency. That just means, when you take a little syrup in between the pointer finger and thumb, a one string should form. Be very very cautious when you try it because the syrup is very hot. Take it out of the heat and add some rose essense, saffron, cardamom and lemon juice. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl add the crushed khoya or the ricotta cheese. Mix well. Add the sugar, cardamom and mix well. Add the all purpose flour. Now add water little by little to make a smooth paste. The consistency of the batter should be of a pancake or a dosa. It should not be too thick or too thin. Last add the baking powder and whip the batter for 2-3 minutes for a softer Malpua.
- Take a shallow non stick pan and add 2 tsp of clarified butter or ghee. Let it get hot, use a ladle to pour malpua. I used a tablespoon to make the malpua. Let it cook on one side, you will see it browning, then flip it and cook for another minute. Let it cook in medium heat. Take it out and dunk it in the syrup we've made.
- There are 2 options to serve this. You can dunk the malpua in the syrup and serve some cream over it or do not dunk it immediately, pinch the sides and form a cone. Let set for few minutes. Then stuff the cream, drizzle some syrup over it(my preferred method).
- Grind the pistachios with sugar to a fine paste. Take it out and mix in the ricotta cheese. It should not be runny. It should be of piping consistency. If you find the cream too thick, add a a tsp of milk. Make sure it holds it's shape when piping.
- Serve warm, room temperature with some pistachio cream.
I drizzled the sugar syrup instead of dunking the whole malpua, that way it not over sweet and holds the shape well.
This weekend is going to be filled with sugar and a lot of color to wash off:).
Enjoy!!!
These filled pancakes sound incredible! Such a nice, sweet treat for Holi!
Thanks Liz.
happy holi! This was an absolutely tastey n a great combination of East meets West
Thanks Bansi.
we ate malpua mostly for religious occasions but you have taken it to a whole another level with pistachio cream! how delicious..
Thanks Dixya.
Nom! Ash, I just adore anything pistachio and your Pistachio Ricotta Cream filled mini hand pancakes look out-of-this-world scrumptious! I love that you lightened them up, too. I also like knowing that the colorful Holi celebrations can get rowdy! Hahaha! Thanks for sharing, my friend! xo
Thanks Stacy. One of the reasons we don’t go is the crowd can get crazy. The boys hang out with a bunch near our home, and that’s fun in itself.
As always your posts are perfection – I can’t wait to try this recipe soon!
This is an easy one and so simple, give it a shot.
Happy Holi!! 🙂 Malpua is made every year for Holi without fail in my home for breakfast! (it’s a UP & Bihar thing!) I would get to eat malpua only once a year on Holi and now I know mom would be making these tomorrow and I wouldn’t be able to taste them sitting thousands of miles away! 🙁 They look fantastic Ash, send me some!!
Happy Holi to you! I only wish I could send you some now. The toughest is being so far away.:(.
Interesting cultural aspects, Ash! I’d love to see it in person.
The pancakes look so good… and the photos are gorgeous!
I loved learning about Holi! What fun … I can just imagine how my little one would love that! I’ve never heard of the holiday or its traditions so thank you for teaching me a little something about it. And again, you work your magic with the food. These pancakes are simply gorgeous! I can totally see everyone laughing, running, playing, and picking up these little pancakes to enjoy. I am sure everyone fawned over them. Happy Holi! : )
Happy Holi, Ash! I love your story about the tradition and these cakes look amazingly delicious! Hope you have a lovely weekend. 🙂
Happy Holi Asha!
These sweet pancakes sound wonderful – but that Pistachio Ricotta Cream takes the cake!
You always manage to make me discover things I didn’t know the existence of. These little cuties look amazing and I bet they taste even better. Great recipe and great pictures too!
Happy Holi! I visited India many times when I was young, but never during Holi. But then again, you say that as a South Indian you didn’t celebrate it….Hyderabad is almost South…maybe that’s why? And, I’ve never had these pancakes either, though they are very similar to the Arabic versions which I make. Either way…these look fabulous!! I know they taste good, they are some of my favourites.
That looks gorgeous Ash! I bet it tasted better. You know this year I didn’t remember it was Holi until I saw the messages on FB. Hubby was travelling and one twin unwell so it was a crazy week. Anyway, so happy to see these malpuas that bring back heaps of memories for me:-)
These pistachio cream filled pancakes look so adorable and divine!
I would love to see the colors. I’ve seen it in magazines and in documentaries but it must be so much more exciting to experience it in person. These delightful pancakes are so cool!
Attending a holi celebration is definitely on my bucket list! One day I hope! 😀
Happy Holi Ash! We can’t describe how delighted we are with this recipe. Panos adores pistachios so this is a must-try for us two:)
Thank you so so much. Hope you are doing well. As always, thanks for your support. hugs.
These look delicious 🙂 sry for being dumb but how much ricotta please? Trying these next Saturday 🙂
I am sorry for responding late. Almost 1 cup of thick ricotta. If you want less or more, please adjust it. Thank you.