The Hindu month – Shravan is the advent of the festival season. Most Hindus abstain from non-veg food and alcohol during this month. 

Most PP families don’t abstain throughout the month, but instead choose to fast and stay vegetarian on specific days. 

Every Monday of Shravan a fast is observed during the day and the fast is broken with a festive vegetarian dinner (had at dusk without uttering a single word… मौन)

This festive dinner is incomplete without a sweet element in the meal (traditionally laid out in a banana leaf). 

Most traditional families make a different sweet every single Monday in Shravan. 

This particular recipe is special to me as it was something my dear late grandmother would cook for the family on श्रावणी सोमवार.. 

Today is the first time I’ve attempted this recipe since she passed away 15 years ago!

You’ll need an Appepatra to cook these… It’s the same thing referred to as a Paniyaram pan in South India…

My recipe is a variant of Laxmibai Dhurandhar’s version in the PP cookery bible – the gruhini mitra… 

  
My recipe yields 15-16 standard sized Appe 

Rawa (Semolina) – 1 cup

Sugar – 1 cup (preferably castor sugar or simply grain sugar briefly blitzed in a grinder)

Cardamom powder – 1/2 tsp

Saffron – a few strands (optional)

Coconut Milk (or plain milk) to make a batter

Ghee – for shallow frying

Assorted nuts (cashews and almonds) and raisins 

  
Mix the Rawa and coconut milk to get a pakora like batter.

Soak the Rawa in coconut milk for at least one hour.

Mix in the sugar, cardamom and nuts and soak for a further hour.

Heat the Appepatra on a medium heat and add a few drops of ghee in each depression.

  
Pour in spoonfuls of batter in each depression and cook on a slow flame till golden on one side.

  
You may want to cover the pan for a few minutes since these are not really being deep fried – traditionally when they’re deep fried in ghee, there’s no need to cover…

Once it’s cooked, lift it off the pan and crisp on the other side on a flat nonstick Rawa in a little ghee.

Serve once cooled – garnished with some pistachios.