Sweet ginger pastries (Aale paak / Aale vadi)
Ingredients :
200 gms fresh gingerroot,
300 gms sugar,
1/2 cup whole milk (or, 1/4 cup whole milk + 1/4 cup cream),
Directions :
1. Wash the gingerroot. Scrape and slice it into small pieces.
2. Grind the pieces into a fine paste with some milk for smoother grinding.
3. Take a heavy bottomed non-stick sauce pan.
4. Combine the ground paste, sugar and remaining milk into the pan and
heat over low to medium heat.
5. Keep stirring the mixture constantly with a wooden spoon.
6. Meanwhile grease a tray or deep plate with 1 tsp ghee.
7. After some time, the mixture thickens and starts leaving the sides of the pan.
8. Remove from the fire and immediately pour the hot mixture into greased tray or plates.
9. Spread evenly with the back of a spatula or flat bottomed bowl.
10. To make the spreading easier, you may grease the spatula with a little bit of ghee.
11. Once cool, cut into square pieces of desired size.
Tip :
1. You may replace cream or half of the milk with khoya.
2. Gingerroots should be ground to a very fine paste,
else you will end up getting thick fibers of ginger in your mouth when you eat pastries.
Courtesy : Sarita Bhave
