Learn Bhatia cooking
Kitchen skill 13 of 15
Roasting flour in ghee
Sekaru: roasting
Say it: say-kuh-roo · Hindi: bhunnana
Many Bhatia sweets begin by roasting flour in ghee: whole-wheat flour for churmo and seero, besan for mohanthal and magji. The flour cooks slowly, smells nutty and darkens to the colour the recipe asks for. The roasting decides the flavour, so it isn’t rushed.
How to do it
- Melt the ghee in a heavy kadai on a medium or low flame.
- Add the flour and stir all the time, scraping the bottom and sides.
- Keep going until it reaches the colour the recipe asks for (see the colours below).
- Then do what the recipe says next: for churmo, turn off the heat before the sugar goes in; seero gets water; mohanthal gets milk, then syrup.
The colours to roast to
- Pale yellow, fragrantRajgiri jay Atte jo Sheero
- Golden brownMoong ji Dar jo Sheero
- Reddish brownMagji Ladoo
- Chocolate brownChurmo, Aatey jo Seero, Mohanthal
You’ll know it’s right when
- A nutty smell fills the kitchen.
- The colour matches the recipe.
Watch out for
- A high flame browns the flour before it cooks through: keep the flame medium or low, as the recipe says.
- Stopping stirring lets it catch and burn.
- Water or milk hitting hot roasted flour spits steam: pour it in carefully and stand back.
Tips
- For Aatey jo Seero, 1 tbsp besan roasted with the wheat flour improves the flavour.
Practise it
On the path to learning Bhatia cooking.
