Ghevar

Sift the flour, and keep it aside.

Take melted ghee, few tbsp ice cold water and milk in a large pan and mix them well.

Add maida to it slowly, and keep mixing very softly. Do not over-mix.

Now add water to this dough gradually, and not in one shot. Pour in a little water and mix with the dough; be careful that there are no lumps formed. Keep on adding water slowly, and make a smooth, lump free batter.

Take a round deep vessel and fill more than half of it with ghee. Heat it on high flame till the ghee gets really hot. Check the correct temperature by dropping a small portion of the batter and see if it immediately comes up, and doesn't stick to the bottom.

Once the ghee is optimally hot, take a spoonful of batter ( I use a big ladle spoon), and pour it in the middle of the vessel in a thin stream from 6 inches height. You could actually increase or stretch the height as much as you can; greater the height, better the texture. I stretch out my hand fully over the vessel to reach the best height I can before I pour in the batter.

As soon as the batter touches the hot ghee, bubbles start to appear. Be sure that the ghee bubbles do not start jumping out of the vessel. If you see that the bubbles are getting high enough, stop pouring for a while, and continue later.

After the first spoon, wait for a few seconds till the bubbles settle, and then pour the second spoonful. Repeat this for 3-4 times. This actually depends on the size of the vessel; the bigger the size, more are the number of spoons required.

If the ghee is not hot enough, the batter will start sticking to the bottom, so keep the flame on medium to high depending on the temperature required.

When you pour in the batter, you'll see that the batter starts scattering and collects near the sides in a circular fashion. As you keep increasing the batter, the disc starts taking its correct shape. In the meanwhile, if the batter sticks in the middle after pouring, use a thin rod ( I used the back of a Phirni/ Mathni) to detach that. Keep on increasing the centre space by using that rod after the batter has settled. After 3-4 pourings, a complete disc will be formed.

Let this disc go golden brown on medium flame. The sides will be slightly more golden.

Once it is properly fried, take it out very carefully by inserting that thin rod in the middle and lifting the whole ghevar with it.

Keep the ghevar slightly tilted on a plate to remove excess ghee. Similarly, make 6-7 ghevars.

For preparing syrup, take 1 and a half cups sugar and 1 cup water in a pan. Bring them to boil with occasional stirring. After the boil, heat it on low flame for 5-6 minutes till you get a one-string consistency.

Now immerse the ghevar in the hot syrup with the help of that rod, and take it out after 5-10 seconds. Do not keep the ghevar in the syrup for long, as it will make them very soggy and wet.

Again keep them tilted in a plate to remove excess syrup.

Let them dry in open for about 1 hour.

Now you can store them in closed containers and refrigerate for further use.

If you wish, you could garnish the ghevars with sliced almonds and pistachios.

For making Malai/Rabdi Ghevar, apply a coat of Rabdi on the top and sprinkle dry fruits on it.