Punjabi Pinni

Prep. : 15 mins
Cook : 40 mins

Total Time :
55 Mins

Cuisine : Punjabi
Servings : makes 25 pinnis

Whole Wheat flour – 2 cups (coarse flour, also called mota aata)
Chana dal (split chickpea lentils) – ¼ cup ( soaked overnight)
Cashew nuts- ½ cup
Almonds -½ cup
Raisins (Kishmish)- ¼ cup
Dry Ginger powder – 2tbsp
Jaggery Powder- ½ cup
Powder Sugar- 1/4th cup
Ghee – 3/4 the 1 cup(in total)

Grind the soaked chana dal in a mixer grinder jar till you get a fine paste. If required add 1-2 tbsp of water to make the paste.

Now we start with cooking the chana dal paste. For that, In a small pan, heat 2/3 tbsp of Ghee and add the Chana dal paste.

Cook the mixture till its golden brown color and starts releasing a nutty aroma. Add more ghee if needed. I would advise making this in a non-stick pan and on low heat to avoid them from sticking to the bottom. Taste and see, if the dal doesn’t taste raw anymore you know it’s done. (It should take around 20 mins or so). Then keep the pan aside.

Take another bigger and deeper pan, heat 1/2 cup of Ghee and then add the flour. Toast well and keep stirring on low flame till the flour starts changing its colour to light brown.

While the flour is roasting, add the Almonds and Cashews in a grinder jar and give it just one quick grind. What you should be left with is some powder and mostly small, coarse pieces of the nuts.

Add this to the whole wheat flour mixture and roast it for 3-4 mins so that nuts will also release its essential oil and also turn crunchy. Once the mixture gets a nice light brown colour, add Dry Ginger powder, mix well.

Then add the roasted chana dal mixture to the kadai and mix well. Let it cook for 4-5 mins with the rest of the mixture.

Then add the jaggery powder and stir well so it melts and incorporates with the mixture.

Finally, turn the flame off, add the powdered sugar, mix till you dont see the white anymore followed by raisins.

Transfer the whole mixture to a plate and allow it to cool down only a little and not too much otherwise binding the pinnis will become a challenge. (However if that does end up happening, heat the mixture slightly to get it back to the right temperature)

Now take a small portion with an ice-cream scoop in your palm and very gently start shaping them into Pinnis (basically laddoos, only larger) by pressing down slightly with the help of your fingers.