Trade Secret

Ask google questions like

How to build a missile defense system

How do you do open heart surgery

or even

How to understand women and there will be answers.

Ask it how to make Sohan Papdi (try son papdi, soan papdi, etc.) and you get only one answer..

The same freaking answer that is a copy paste job across a dozen or so food websites. (I thought this was some freak of mother internet!). There is one more soul out there that is equally surprised by it ..

No, you dont have to waste your time. I will also cut and paste it here for you!

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Patisa (Soan Papdi)
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup gramflour
1 1/4 cup plain flour (maida)
250 gms. ghee
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cup water
2 tbsp. milk
1/2 tsp. cardamom seeds crushed coarsely
2 tsp. charmagaz (combination of 4 types of seeds) refer glossary
4" squares cut from a thin polythene sheet

Method:
Sift both flours together.
Heat ghee in a heavy saucepan.
Add flour mixture and roast on low till light golden.
Keep aside to cool a little, stirring occasionally.
Prepare syrup simultaneously.
Make syrup out of sugar, water and milk as shown in introduction.
Bring syrup to 2 1/2 thread consistency.
Pour at once into the flour mixture.
Beat well with a large fork till the mixture forms threadlike flakes.
Pour onto a greased surface or thali and roll to 1" thickness lightly.
Sprinkle the charmagaz seeds and elaichi and gently press down with palm.
Cool, cut into 1" squares, wrap individually into square pieces of thin plastic sheet.
Store in airtight container.
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There, armed with that recipe, you can make it! Right? Wrong.

Somehow this does not give you the same son Papdi that the street vendor sold us when we were kids. He would ring his bell and show up with this push cart with a glass jar (the lid would be wrapped in cloth to get the jar a tight seal). For 25 paisa (what is quarter of a rupee = a quarter of 2.5 cents) he would take a square piece of newsprint, make a cone out of it and put enough of the cottony white "son papdi" into the cone and give you.

Hmmmmmmmmm.. sooooo yummy! Recently thanks to Balaji we found a place in Chennai where they sell the cottony stuff compressed into little cubes and a box of this with around 40 cubes sells for a dollar. By todays standards that is a decent price and it has the same taste and manages to bring back some amazing memories!

Here is the thing though. How do you make the stuff? This is not available in any Indian store in the bay area. We only get the Barfi's!

If you know, please give me a recipe. something with enough details about the beating process to make the thin needles!

I would realllllllllly appreciate it and you know I will try it and there will be a videoblog of "the making of Son Papdi"


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