tilgul recipe, tilgul ghya god god bola, makar sankranti, happy makarsankranti, makar sankranti maharashtra

Til gul ghya, gode gode bola..

From being a harbinger of peace to adding fun to the kite flying festival, til laddoos are the food of the day.

Says actor Mugdha Godse, who is reminded of her childhood every Makar Sankrati, “The skies were ablaze with lovely kites and I liked watching it but more interesting than that was to get into the kitchen and have the food. Til gul was the most awaited dish and while we helped prepare it, we’d tuck into the hot laddoos too.”

The best part of the sweet dish is that it really is a peace offering, she adds. “When you want to make up with someone you take a plate of laddoos to them and say til gul ghya aani gode gode bola.’

Neeraj Rawoot, chef de cuisine, Grand Hyatt, explains the importance of having til in the food. “It is considered as the ingredient of the Gods and has a huge importance in Hindu culture. Til also represents prosperity and goodness, hence you will find a lot of Maharashtrians distributing the laddoos during this period.”

Makar Sankranti is the harvest festival of India. “It is celebrated across the country, most people create special dishes out of til, rice, sugarcane (generally in the form of jaggery) and sarson mostly found in the north,” says Rawoot.

“A lot of dishes had at this time are sarson ka saag and makki di roti in Punjab, khaboni in UP and Bihar, ven pongal with pachha payiru in the South, til aur khoya ki roti made mainly in UP again, amongst others.”

Chef Rawoot gives some of his recipes to try out at home...

Til aur Khoya Ki Roti (Pan-grilled bread stuffed with sesame and
condensed milk)

Ingredients:

For stuffing:

Rosated crushed white sesame seeds — 50g
Jaggery — 25g
Mawa — 20g
Elaichi powder — a pinch

Method:

Take a pan and add one spoon of 1/2 tbsp of ghee. Melt the jaggery and add mawa, sesame seeds plus elachi powder. Let the mix cool for a bit. Knead a soft dough and flatten it out in a round shape. Add the mixture inside the dough and knead it like a stuffed paratha. Cook it on the tawa along with ghee smeared on both sides. Serve it hot with rabri.

Khoya aur Nariyal Ka Piththa (Sweetened condensed milk and coconut-stuffed rice dumplings in a creamy cardamom reduction)

Ingredients:
Rice flour — 100g

For stuffing:

Jaggery — 150g
Grated coconut — 100g
Til — 1tbsp

Method

Take a pan and add 75ml warm water. Bring the water to a boil and add the rice flour. Cook the mixture till the rice flour swells up and leaves the side of the pan. The mixture will become soft, almost like dough. Mix all the stuffing’s together roughly by hand and ensure all the jaggery is equally incorporated. Flatten the mixture out and let it cool. Make a medium-sized flat dough and add the stuffing inside. Turn the dough into the half forming like a moon or crescent shape. Close the ends by pressing them with your hands on both sides. In a steamer steam the piththa for about 4 minutes each and serve it along with reduced milk and khoya.

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