A North Indian winter special, Panjiri is made by slow roasting atta in ghee and then mixing it with loads of nuts. This is how my nani (grandma) made it for us when we were kids and I would eat it by spoonful.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 5 minutes
  • Cook time: 30 minutes
  • Total time: 35 minutes
  • Yield: 4 cups
  • Category: Sweets
  • Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

To Roast the Nuts/Gum

  • 2 & ½ tablespoons ghee (divided)
  • ¼ cup almonds ([adjustable] 37 grams [/adjustable], use raw almonds)
  • ¼ cup cashews ([adjustable] 38 grams [/adjustable], use raw cashews)
  • 2 tablespoons golden raisins ([adjustable] 25 grams [/adjustable])
  • 2 tablespoons edible gum ([adjustable] 30 grams [/adjustable], also known as gond)

Everything Else

  • ½ cup + 2 tablespoons ghee ([adjustable] 125 grams [/adjustable])
  • 2 cupa atta (approx. [adjustable] 250 grams [/adjustable])
  • ½ cup bura (approx. [adjustable] 100 grams [/adjustable])
  • ½ teaspoon cardamom powder (optional)

Method

Fry the nuts/gum/raisins

  1. Take a heavy bottom kadai/pan (iron or brass works best) and add 2 tablespoons ghee to it on medium heat. Once the ghee is hot, add ¼ cup almonds (37 grams) and ¼ cup cashews (38 grams) to it. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes until nuts are light golden brown in color and the remove them from the kadai using a skimmer. To the same pan, now add 2 tablespoons golden raisins (25 grams). Cook for 1 minute until they plump up and then remove them using a skimmer as well.
  2. Now, add an extra ½ tablespoon ghee, and then add 2 tablespoons edible gum (30 grams) to the kadai. Edible gum is called "gond" in hindi. Fry for 1 minute until the gum swells up, and then remove using a skimmer.

Roast the atta

  1. To the same kadai, now add ½ cup + 2 tablespoons ghee (125 grams) on low heat. Then add 2 cups atta (250 grams) and stir using a spatula. Cook the atta on low heat, stirring constantly until atta turns fragrant and is toasted and golden brown in color. This process takes anywhere between 15 to 20 minutes and needs patience. Do not rush this step. Make sure to stir constantly else the atta will burn and do not increase the heat else the atta will become brown but will still be raw. Once nicely roasted, transfer the atta to a big plate or bowl and continue to stir for 2 more minutes. We do this because there's still heat trapped inside the atta and we don't want it to burn so continue to stir for a minute or two even after removing the atta from heat. And now let the atta cool down to room temperature. You have to wait for it to cool down before mixing in the sugar else the sugar will melt and you will have a halwa (pudding) instead!

Grind the nuts/gum

  1. While the atta is getting cooled, transfer the roasted nuts and raisins to a grinder and pulse a few times to grind them coarsely. Don't make a fine powder. Some pieces of nuts give a lot of texture to the panjiri. Crush the edible gond using a mortar and pestle. Again, crushing it like this, will add texture to panjiri but you can also grind it if you want.

Mix everything together

  1. Once the atta has cooled down to room temperature, add 100 grams/ ½ cup bura (see note 1) along with the ground nuts, raisins and crushed gond. Mix everything together using a spoon or your hands. You can also add ½ teaspoon cardamom powder or ground ginger if you like. I keep it plain since that's how my nani made it! Store panjiri in an airtight container and it will last for 2 to 3 weeks.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.