Sweet Malpua or Pura is made with using some or all of the following ingredients: maida (refined flour), semolina, milk, and yogurt. The batter is left to stand for a few hours before being spooned into a kadhai of hot oil to form a bubbling pancake which should be crisp around the edges. The pancakes are then immersed in a thick sugar syrup. Malpua is a popular sweet to make on the Hindu religious occasion of Holi. ~ Wikipedia

However, Urmilla Kapoor’s recipe of sweet puras is a healthier version of malpuas. It is cooked like a pancake in a non-stick pan using a little bit of ghee on the edges. The sugar level is less, it is not soaked in a sugar syrup and the sugar in the batter can be adjusted according to taste.

When Urmila was a young girl, she was very fascinated with dolls but her father thought it to be a bad habit. As she grew up, she was always told to focus on studies.

At that point in her childhood she had other interests such as playing with wooden toys, stitching, embroidery etc. However, her father believed that there was nothing more important than studies.

She would compose poems in Hindi and her father would narrate Urdu and English poems to Urmila thereby inculcating the interest of poetry in her.

After Urmila got married she realised the value of cooking and tried to grasp the skills of cooking from whoever she could. To her surprise, slowly but surely, she developed a strong liking for cooking.

She then started to take interest in various cook books, recipes, flavours of food preparations and developed an urge to keep trying her hand at cooking various dishes.

Urmila slowly started concocting her own preparations with great enthusiasm and interest and began to realise that cooking had then become one of her favourite things to do.

Whether it was her children, grandchildren, family or friends she truly enjoyed preparing dishes for everyone and realised that this gave her immense joy and a great sense of satisfaction.

Urmila or Ammi as she is lovingly called by her family, calls Malpuas Puras and had tasted them for the first time at her Nani, maternal grandmother’s, house. She says that, they were different in taste than the ones she now makes because her Nani used to add saunf/fennel seeds and whole black peppercorns in them.

The members of our family disliked the taste of saunf/fennel seeds and whole black peppercorns, so I discarded them from my recipe. The original recipe that Urmila remembers is very similar to the one made in Nepal.  At Culinary Legacy, she is presenting her changed new recipe.

After mixing all the ingredients, Ammi lets the batter sit for two to four hours depending on the weather. Before making the Puras, she adds baking powder to the batter and on a non-stick pan makes small Puras like pancakes, using ghee or clarified butter sparingly. They can be eaten on their own or to make it more festive one can add rabri or sweetened milk solids and sliced nuts as a topping.

Her recipe is a healthier version of the much loved Malpuas available in the sweet shops in North India. She has done away with the soaking of the malpuas in a sweet syrup, hence people who are careful with their sugar intake can enjoy this traditional Indian festive sweet.

Sweet Malpua or Pura

Indian Sweet Pancake

The mixture is sufficient for 15-16 Puras

Ingredients ~

100 gms suji/semolina
110 gms maida/plain flour
150 gms sugar
75 gms curd/yogurt
400 ml milk
Baking powder – 2 large pinches
2 tbps ghee/clarified butter

Method ~

1. Mix suji, maida, sugar, curd and half the milk and beat them thoroughly so that no lumps remain.
2. Add the remaining milk and keep the batter aside, covered, for about two hours in summers and 3-4 hours in winters.
3. Before cooking mix two large pinches of baking powder gently into the batter.
4. Make small puras/pancakes of about 8.5 cm. on a non-stick pan, sprinkling a little ghee  around the edges of the puras.
5. Cook them till they are golden in colour, turning over once.

Serving suggestion ~

The Puras can be served topped with Rabri or sweet milk solids, with a sprinkling of sliced pistachios.

Important ~ Sugar syrup is not necessary for soaking these Puras like Malpuas are generally done.