Pinni Recipe (Pinni Sweet)

Preparation

1. Heat 3 tablespoons of ghee in a frying pan or kadai (wok) over medium to medium-high heat.
2. Ensure ghee is about 170 to 180 degrees Celsius. To check, add a small piece of gond; it should puff up immediately.
3. When the ghee is moderately hot, add all gond pieces in the frying pan or kadai (wok)
4. Stir and fry until crispy, golden, and puffed. Keep stirring for even frying.
5. Use a slotted spoon to remove fried gond pieces. Place the fried gond pieces on kitchen paper towel and let them cool.
6. Reduce heat to low or medium-low.
7. Add almonds and fry for about a minute or until their color changes. Increase the heat to medium if needed. Remove fried almonds with a slotted spoon and set aside on kitchen paper towel.
8. Add cashews and fry for about 1 to 2 minutes or until light golden or golden. Increase the heat to medium if needed. Remove fried cashews and place on kitchen paper towel.
9. Add pistachios and fry for about a minute or until the color changes and light golden. Turn off the heat. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on kitchen paper towel.

Powdering Gond and Nuts

1. Let the fried gond and nuts cool at room temperature.
2. Once cooled, powder gond using a mixer-grinder, blender or other tools like a mortar-pestle or back of a steel bowl or steel glass. If using a mixer-grinder, grind in short spurts or use the pulse option of your mixer-grinder to get a fine texture. Remove powdered gond and set aside.
3. In the same grinder, pulse almonds, cashews, and pistachios to make a coarse or semi-fine mixture. Set aside. Opt to make a finely ground texture if you prefer.
4. Additionally, sift powdered sugar to remove lumps. Set aside.

Roasting Flour

1. Approximately half a tablespoon of ghee will be left in the pan or kadai after frying the nuts.
2. In the same kadai or pan, heat this remaining ghee until warm or lightly hot.
3. Add whole wheat flour. Mix it evenly with the ghee.
4. On medium-low to medium heat, roast flour for 8 to 10 minutes or until fragrant, stirring often and non-stop.
5. Once this is achieved, add 4 tablespoons of ghee and mix thoroughly with the roasted flour.
6. Stir continuously for 4 to 6 minutes or until the flour turns evenly golden.
7. The overall roasting duration for the flour typically ranges from 12 to 16 minutes, influenced by factors like flour texture, quality, pan thickness, and metal type.

Making Pinni

1. Turn off the heat. Place the pan or kadai on the kitchen countertop.
2. Add powdered gond, powdered nuts, raisins, sifted powdered sugar, green cardamom powder, and ginger powder. Mix thoroughly. Do a taste test and add more sugar if needed.
3. While still hot, take a portion of the mixture and form round pinnis.

Storage and Serving Suggestions

1. Store pinni at room temperature in an airtight container. Keeps well for about a month in the cold winters of North India.
2. Enjoy pinni as a sweet treat on their own or paired with hot milk, especially for children.