WINTER SPECIAL SWEET: DHAPKYA CHI SHAAK

This is a winter special sweet delight made from the calabash/bottle gourd in our Kokani Muslim community. Evers since I was a child, every winter without fail I have seen the calabash making its way from our village to our Mumbai home only to be used for this dish by my late grandmother and thereafter my mother.

The recipe is noteworthy in the way it is slow-cooked for hours and entails use of onions although it is a sweet dish. The calabash is mixed with chopped onions, jaggery, coconut, green cardamom, cinnamon and cooked very gradually to allow intense caramelization to take place. Once ready this preparation is relished as is or with chaawrachi roti (rice flour bhaakris/chapatis).

I am very happy to post this recipe and it has also been featured in Mumbai Mirror and Pune Mirror today. Here is the link to the epaper to find same:
https://www.google.co.in/amp/punemirror.indiatimes.com/others/you/winter-is-coming-on-your-plate/amp_articleshow/61896420.cms

Read More