Karwa Chauth Special Meethi Mathri | Sweet Indian Fried Flaky Crackers

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Karva Chauth is one of the most awaited festivals in Northern and parts of Western India after Deepavali; a pious festival during which the married women fast for a whole day praying for the well-being and long life of their husbands. The fast gets started early in the morning just before sunrise and gets opened only after offering a small prayer to the moon. During the fasting duration, women abstain themselves from eating or drinking anything, even water.

The preparations of this vivacious fest generally gets started about a week in advance; decked up markets with stalls selling anything and everything ranging from cosmetics, bangles and jewelry to traditional sweets and delicacies. Women queued up at Henna stalls waiting to get beautiful designs tattooed on their hands is truly a sight to behold. Needless to say, if someone visits Northern India during the time of Karva Chauth and Deepavali, he is sure to be smitten by the awe and grandeur of the mesmerizing festivities. While writing all this, oh I am just missing all the fun of such beautiful traditions and celebrations of India. Although, a Diwali Village and market has been set up here in Singapore too, but it lacks the exuberance and vibrancy of what we are used to seeing in India.

It was only yesterday that I stopped by at the Diwali Village in Little India (Singapore) on my way back from office; I was there to get "Fenis" and 'Sweet Mathris" that we traditionally eat during the sargi or the pre-dawn meal. It was literally a huge market with shops selling all the puja items, diyas, crackers and off-course few sweets. I was lucky enough to lay my hands on some fenis but could not find the sweet mathris which are a kind of must for the Karva Chauth fast as per our customs and beliefs. And yes, luckily again it was an off day for me today being the Saturday, so, I had some time in hand to prepare these mathris at home for the fasting on Sunday. And after actually making them, I realized they are not at all hard to prepare and the outcome is off-course much better than the store-bought ones. To satiate my innovative self, I also sprinkled them with some icing sugar and powdered pistachios, which made them look so beautiful and exotic.

If you also living out of India and are not able to lay your hands on mathris for your fast, I bet you can easily make them at home like I did. Just follow the recipe below and don't forget to thank me later :)




    
Ingredients

Maida (All purpose flour) - 2 cups
Desi ghee (clarified butter) - 1 tbsp
Vegetable oil - 1 tbsp
Water (luke warm) - for kneading, about 1/4 cup
Oil - for frying
Icing sugar (optional) - 1 tbsp
Powdered pistachios (optional) - for sprinkling

For Sugar Syrup

Sugar - 1 cup
Water - 1/2 cup
Lemon juice - 1 tsp






Method

1. Mix desi ghee and vegetable oil in maida. Rub well with your hands. You must get a bread crumb like texture.
2. Knead a semi-soft dough of this mixture using a little luke warm water at a time.
3. Cover with a damp cloth and keep aside to rest for half an hour.
4. Once the dough has rested, divide it into 8 equal portions.
5. Roll out each portion into 5 to 6 inch diameter disc.
6. Prick each disc with fork all over. In the meanwhile, keep oil to heat in a wok.
7. Once the oil is little hot, slide one disc and fry on low flame for 8 to 10 minutes, until the mathris get good golden brown color on all sides. Continue same for the remaining mathris.
8. Dish them out on absorbent paper.
9. Now make sugar syrup by boiling sugar and water together until the syrup attains a two thread consistency.
10. Add in lemon juice so that it does not crystallize.
11. Now dip each mathri in the syrup one by one for about a minute.
12. Take out on a big thali or plate and place in such a way that they don't stick to each other.
13. Sprinkle with some icing sugar and powdered pistachios.
14. Let these completely cool after which you can store them in air-tight container for about a month.






      



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