Somaas

Posting on behalf of a non-blogger to link up with my ongoing event 'Sweet Celebration' :)

PARTICIPANT NAME: Thangalakshmi Maharajan

RECIPE NAME: SOMAAS

I am from South Tamil Nadu and we have many traditional sweet recipes (Inippu) that have been passed down generations. One such is somaas which has a stuffing that isn’t so sweet and also it keeps well in shelves for a good time period.

INGREDIENTS:

For Outer Layer:

All purpose flour/Maida-1cup

Ghee -1tsp

Salt-1/2 tsp

Water-1/4-1/2 cup

For Stuffing:

Grated Fresh Coconut-1/4 cup

Ghee-1 tsp

Roasted gram/Buna channa-1/2 cup 

Sugar-1/3-1/2 cup

Cardamom-5 pods 

Oil-For deep frying

STEPS TO FOLLOW:

1.Take a mixing bowl add  the ingredients given  for the outer layer except water and mix them well with the tip of your fingers.

2. Then add the water slowly and knead the dough to a pliable mass. Let the dough be thick so add water carefully

3. Knead the dough for further 5-10 mins and rest the dough for at least 1 hour in a covered bowl.

4. Now for the stuffing add ghee to a hot pan, add the coconut and fry until they are golden brown. Remove them from the pan and allow it to cool.

5. Now add roasted gram, sugar and cardamom pods to a mixer jar and grind them to a coarse powder.

6. Mix the coarse powder and fried coconut keep aside.

7. Divide the dough into a small lemon sized balls and rolling them in to a circle.

8. Now spoon the filling across the diameter of the circle 

9. Now slowly take one side of the circle and stick to the other side by pressing the ends with a little water in your hands.

10. Prepare the rest of the dough in the same way.

11. Take a heavy bottomed pan and pour the oil needed for deep frying. Let the oil become really hot.

12. Now drop 1or 2 somaas ‘carefully into the oil. It will soon puff up on one side. Then turn them to the other side and fry them until they are golden.

13. Remove them from oil and place them on tissues to absorb excess oil.

14. Once they are cool store them in a clean, dry, airtight container.

15. Serve with sugar sprinklings on top.

Notes:

*Resting time is very important for the dough to soften.

*Add water carefully as the dough must be a little hard. So do not add excess water.

*You can also add desiccated coconut. Stuffing with coconut will stay good for 3-4 days. Stuffing without coconut can be stored for 10 days.

*Add sugar according to your taste.

*You can also grind the stuffing to a fine powder. The coarse powder will give a great texture. I added some black sesame seeds to the stuffing for texture.

*Roll the dough as thin as you can which ensures the crispiness of the outer layer.

*The oil must be really hot for even frying and also see to that you remove them when they are golden brown as they tend to get easily burnt.

*Stick the ends of the dough properly otherwise they will leak all the stuffing when dropped in oil.

Linking this recipe to Shruti’s ‘Sweet Celebration’ Event :)