Once upon a time, a few hundred years ago… relax, I will cut to the chase.
In 1838, priest Nirmaladasji urged Devshankar Shukla to prepare Ghari. Devshanksr Shukla then prepared Ghari for Tatya Tope, who arranged to provide ghari to the freedom fighters and their soldiers on the battlefield. Ghari helped the men to build extra strength. However, it came to be served on less auspicious occasions as well, especially by people of certain castes in crematoriums for the souls of the departed.
As with the evolution of everything and the advent of modernism, these sweets are now served at festivals around the country. It’s an utterly delicious sweet, if you have had it you know what I am talking about. If you have not had it yet! Be ready, there’s no going back.
Ghari or Surati Ghari is a sweet Gujarati dish from Surat, Gujarat. Ghari is made from puri aata(batter), mawa, ghee and sugar. This sweet dish is made in round shapes with a sweet filling and is to be consumed during the festival of Chandani Padva festival. Ghari, these days are made in many varieties and flavours such as pistachio, almond-elachi, and mawa.
These absolute beauties of a thing and where can you find them? It depends- you wanna go out and have it? You wanna have it at home? You wanna a piece of it? Or do you want it in bulk? Do you want it in pista or mawa? well, it doesn’t really matter you can have it all or one here at Vijay Dairy.
I will tell you how can you prepare it at home in the most authentic and easiest way!!
Four Step-process To Make The Surti Ghari
The making of surti ghari involves three critical steps. Read below what they are:
Ghari Filling
It starts with making the filling by adding, mixing, and whisking a pre-defined set of ingredients. Follow the list of ingredients to know which material goes into the filling.
Making The puri
Puri is the outer cover in which the filling, aka stuffing, is placed and carefully draped. The base ingredient to make the ghari cover is maida, aka all-purpose flour.
There’s no alternative to maida. If you are intolerant to maida, then you will miss this classic sweet. I am sorry, but it goes this way, and I really can’t do much about it.
Frying
Ghee is used in the frying process, and once again, there’s no alternative to it. You can’t fry ghari in cooking oil. It’s obvious. Moreover, you can’t even deep fry it by simply putting it into hot ghee. It will immediately shatter. There’s a frying process one needs to follow. Refer to my video or recipe steps to see how I have fried my favourite ghari.
Garnish
I would rather term it as a traditional ghee bath instead of calling it garnishing. Authentic surti ghari is heavily studded with a fat layer of ghee on the outer side. This is how sweet shops in Surat make and sell it.
Surti Ghari Ingredients
Ghee, milk mava, dry fruits, and all-purpose flour and gram flour are the only necessary ingredients in this recipe. Read what each item works towards making a perfect ghari.
Gram Flour (Besan)
Besan is our base ingredient number one. There are two main reasons to use besan here. First, it gives a nutty flavour to your ghari along with other dry fruits and nuts. Second, besan is an excellent binder.
It holds all the ingredients together while frying. Using only milk mawa would shatter the ghari while frying. Moreover, besan is roasted, so there’s no harm in eating it.
All-Purpose Flour (Maida)
Refined flour, aka maida, aka all-purpose flour, is for making the outer cover. I know you are thinking about using wheat flour. Anyway, that won’t work. Wheat flour covering will dry quickly and become hard.
As a result, there will be cracks in ghari which will make the frying process more difficult. Your ghari will never accomplish. So, use maida only, not wheat flour.
Mava (Solid Milk aka Khoya)
Milk mava is our base ingredient number two. When mixed with besan, it becomes a super binder that holds all the nuts, dry fruits, and flavour. Besides, mava is the heart of this recipe. Without mava, the filling is not possible.
We all know that mawa gives a smooth and creamy texture to a recipe. Hence, if you are using anything apart from milk mawa, it’s not going to work.
Ghee
There are three intervals in the making process where ghee is used. First, roast besan and milk mava. Second to fry the ghari & finally, to coat the ghari, aka garnishing
I use Jamkhambhaliya ghee. Jamkhambhalia is a town in Devbhoomi Dwarka district of Gujarat & is renowned worldwide for its pure quality of ghee. Gujaratis mainly use this ghee in ghari because it is much safer than dalda and better than dairy ghee.
Sugar Powder
Of course, sugar is for sweetening, but instead of sugar granules, I use bura. I mostly use it in powder form because it makes my cooking process fast. Do let me know if you have a unique substitute for sugar.
Dry Fruits
Nuts and dried fruits are an inevitable part of this recipe. If you are not a fan of using mixed dry fruits, you can opt for one single dry fruit. For example, you are using only almonds or only pistachios. This way, you can end up making special almond ghari or pista flavour ghari.
Now that you know all about the ingredients and critical steps, start making the surti ghari right away. Take help with the video or refer to the recipe steps for precise details.
| Product Name | Price |
| Kesar Badam Pista Ghari | 190 – 470 |
| Pista Ghari | 180 – 440 |