Aate Ki Pinni

Aate ki Pinni or Aata Ladoos is a traditional Punjabi winter delicacy made with wheat flour, ghee, sugar, and lots of dry fruits.

Recipe Source Link:https://www.mygingergarlickitchen.com/aate-ki-pinni/

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RECIPE INGREDIENTS

» For Aate Ki Pinni

• 500 grams atta (wheat flour)
• 375 grams ghee (clarified butter)
• 100 grams gond (edible gum), optional
• 100 grams almonds (badam)
• 100 grams cashews (kaju)
• 50 grams melon seeds (magaj)
• 50 grams raisins (kishmish)
• 350 grams powdered sugar (or as per taste)
• 1 tablespoon cardamom powder
• 1 teaspoon dry ginger powder (sonth powder)
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper powder (kali mirch powder)

» Equipments

• Large heavy-bottomed pan
• Mixing bowl or a large plate
• A spatula & a slotted spoon
• A flat bowl or mortar and pestle
• Air-tight container

RECIPE INSTRUCTIONS

» Frying the Nuts & Gond (Edible Gum)

1. Heat about 1/4 cup of ghee in a heavy-bottomed pan over medium-low heat. Once the ghee is slightly hot, add 50 grams of edible gum to the pan and fry on medium-low heat until all the crystals puff up and turn crisp.
2. Remove the puffed-up crystals using a slotted spoon and transfer them to a plate. You don't need to use a kitchen tissue. The ghee in fried gond would add a nice flavor to the pinnis (ladoos). To the same pan, add the rest of the edible gum and fry. Once puffed up, remove them using a slotted spoon and transfer them to the same plate. Keep it aside to cool completely.
3. To the same pan, add 2 tablespoons of ghee and heat over medium-low heat. Once the ghee is hot, add almonds and fry them until they turn aromatic and crunchy. Don't worry about the foam, it is because we have fried edible gum in the same pan. It will disappear after cooling. Remove the fried almonds and transfer them to a bowl and set aside to cool.
4. After that, add cashews to the pan and fry until cashews change their color slightly and turn crunchy. Transfer the cashews to a bowl and keep them aside to cool.
5. Now, add raisins and melon seeds to the pan, and fry them until the raisins puff up and melon seeds slightly crack. Drain fried raisins and melon seeds mix using a slotted spoon and transfer them to a plate. Keep them also aside to cool.

» Roasting Wheat Flour

1. Add the rest of the ghee to a pan. Then add wheat flour slowly and stir well until combined and all the ghee is absorbed by wheat flour. Roast on low heat until the wheat flour changes slightly light brown. Roasting takes about 40-45 minutes, so you need to be patient. Stir it continuously for even roasting, it also prevents the mixture from burning. At this point, the mixture would also turn grainy and it would also start oozing with the ghee. The fried wheat mixture tends to become very hot, so do not tempt to touch it.
2. At this point, turn off the heat and carefully transfer the wheat flour to a large mixing bowl. Let it cool at room temperature. It will take about 30-35 minutes to cool. To speed up the cooling process, just mix it at regular intervals.

» Making Pinni (Ladoo) Mixture

1. Meanwhile, for making coarse gond (edible gum) powder, either press the fried gond (edible gum) with the back of a flat bowl bottomed bowl or crush it using a mortar and pestle until you get a coarse mixture. Alternatively, you can also pulse it in an electric grinder over high speed. Keep it aside.
2. Add fried almonds and fried cashews to a grinding jar and grind it coarsely. Keep this aside.
3. Once the wheat flour mixture comes to room temperature (or is slightly warm), add coarse gond powder, nuts powder, raisins, melon seeds, cardamom powder, dry ginger powder, and black pepper powder.
4. Mix it slightly, and then add powdered sugar to the same bowl. Keep mixing until everything is well combined.

» Shaping Pinni

1. When comfortable enough to touch, take a handful of the pinni mixture in hand and roll it to make a smooth ball (laddo), or make a traditional pinni shape by pressing the mixture between the fist to achieve an oblong-shaped pinni (see the video for a clear picture). Don't try the smoothen it out, uneven surfaced pinnis that have finger imprints on them are considered the best. Keep making pinnis (laddos) until all the mixture is used up.
2. Stick each pinni either with almond, cashew or pistachio just by pressing it lightly on the pinni. This is just for decoration, so you can completely skip this step.

» Storing

1. When all the pinnis are ready, place them in an air-tight container and store them in a cool dry place.

RECIPE NOTES

1. For best results, if possible use mota gehu ka atta (coarsely ground wheat flour) which is freshly milled. You can also add a little bit of millet flour, or gram flour to the wheat flour.
2. Powdered sugar: If you don't have powdered sugar, then you can make it at home by grinding sugar in a grinder jar.
3. Spices: I have used a combination of dry ginger powder, and black pepper powder. They both add a slightly spicy flavor to these pinnis. Adding these spices is completely optional.