Indian food is not only famous for its rich spices and aromatic flavors, but also for its amazing sweet items & preparations. One such sweet dish that is immensely popular across India, particularly the northern part of the country is the Aate ki Pinni.
The sweet is widely prepared in Indian homes during the winter season. In fact, aate ki pinni is also considered to be a must-have winter food item, as it is packed with healthy ingredients and wholesome goodness.
As a child, I have some of the most wonderful memories of eating Aate ki Pinni. My grandmother and mother would often prepare pinnis during the cold season, even as I sat in one corner of the kitchen, watching them prepare the sweet with much love and admiration. After the pinnis were ready, they were placed in a container and we could enjoy them as our morning, mid-day or evening snacks. Even today, when I visit my mother during the winter season, she prepares home-made delicious pinnis and I always return with a container full of them.
So, if you are wondering what makes Pinnis my favorite sweet and how can you prepare them at home then check out my ‘Aate ki Pinni’ recipe below:
Ingredients Required
- Wheat Flour – one and a half cup
- Sugar (powdered) – one and half cup
- Green cardamom (powdered)-half teaspoon
- Raisins-4 tablespoon
- Cashews-4 tablespoon
- Ghee-one and half cup
- Milk –one fourth cup
- Almonds-4 tablespoon
- Pistachios- 4 tablespoon
Method for making Pinni
In order to prepare aate ki pinni, you don’t require any specialized equipment. Neither will you have to spend a great deal of your time. Simply gather all your ingredients and spare thirty minutes in the day or evening and your mouth-watering pinnis will be ready to be served.
- Take a pan or kadhai and heat some ghee in it. Now add some wheat flour, but make sure that the flame is low in order to avoid burning the wheat flour.
- Continue cooking the wheat flour until its color turns light brown.
- You need to stir the flour continuously, as you may end up burning the flour if you leave it unattended. Remember, in order to make the best tasting pinnis, you need to keep the heat/flame low.
- Another quick tip to prepare yummy pinnis is to add some semolina or sooji to your wheat flour. This would make it slightly graining in texture and add that much-needed crunchy flavor. So, if you wish to make crunchy pinnis, then add some semolina to the flour at this stage. On the contrary, if you don’t want your pinnis to be crunchy, then ignore this step.
- Next, you need to add your dry nuts as well as sugar to the flour mixture.
- After you have mixed it well, remove the kadhai from the flame.
- You must allow your mixture to cool down. Make sure they are cool enough to touch.
- When you think that the mixture has cooled down to a considerable extent then take some dough and give it a shape of small round balls.
That’s it your pinnnis are ready to be served to your family members and guests! Place them in a container and offer them to your loved ones.
Lastly, remember that your traditionally cooked Aate ki Pinni is not only delicious, but also good for health. In case you want to make it healthier then consider replacing sugar with some jiggery. Alternatively, you can also add one fourth cup of mawa to give it a rich texture and taste. Some people also add additional nuts such as pumpkin seeds, pine nuts and edible gum to their pinnis for extra flavor.
-Puja Bhardwaj
