5 paan-flavored recipes you must try
Paan (betel leaves with betel nut and slaked lime) is traditionally served as a mouth freshener after meals. It also helps in digesting food and prevents constipation and gastric pain. It tastes extremely refreshing and flavorful when mixed with chopped cherries, sweet jam-like spreads, crunchy titbits, and other aromatic spices. There are several paan varieties available today. Here are five must-try, super-delicious paan-flavored recipes.
Paan rabri
To make the rabri, boil some milk and reduce it to half. Add sugar and stir well until the mixture thickens. Grind together rabri, paan essence, and paan leaves. Blend some cashew powder and gulkand together. Soak falooda seeds in water and drain. Layer rose syrup in a bowl. Add cashew-gulkand mixture, rabri-paan mixture, and garnish with falooda seeds, paan leaves, and rose petals.
Paan ice cream
Grind together paan leaves and lemon juice, sieve, and extract the juice. Mix this juice with cardamom powder, fennel seeds, dried dates, and gulkand. Boil some milk. Add sugar and cold milk-cornflour mix and simmer well. Let it cool, add the paan-flavoring mix and cream and mix well. Freeze, and blend the mixture. Add menthol, mix well, and freeze again until firm. Serve chilled.
Paan sandesh
Saute khoya and paneer in a pan and transfer to a bowl. Add cardamom powder, sugar, rose essence, and milk powder, and mix well. For the stuffing, mix together dried figs, basil leaves, betel leaves, gulkand, crushed petha, fennel seeds, and cashews. Place some pistachios in a mold. Add paneer-khoya mixture, then gulkand mixture, and again paneer-khoya mixture. Refrigerate, garnish with pistachios and serve.
Paan rice
Roast some black gram and garlic. Add red chilies and fry well. Next, add sesame seeds and stir well. Grind into a powder. Saute mustard seeds and cumin seeds in oil. Add chopped onions, turmeric, and salt, and cook well. Add chopped betel leaves and fry for three minutes. Add cooked fluffy rice and black gram powder and cook for three-four minutes. Serve hot.
Paan gujiya
Combine together refined flour, water, and ghee and knead into a stiff dough. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Mix chopped paan, khoya, and dry fruits for the filling. Make small balls from the dough and roll them. Place the filling in the center, seal, and make gujia shapes. Fry the gujiyas in ghee and soak them in hot sugar syrup. Garnish with dry fruits. Enjoy!
