TG it is SankranT

Tilgulacha Laadu (Tilkoot Laadu)

Tilgul is a generic word in Marathi for all sweets made out of sesame and jaggery or even sugar in the Sankranti season. Like with Diwali “faral” that was sent over to all friends and neighbours, til-gul or TG for the purposes of this piece, was distributed very generously and far and wide. Accompanying these offerings was of course, the statutory sweet reminders to be kind and peaceful towards one and all.

One remembers TG arriving in envelopes bursting at the corners with candied til called “halwa” and little packets of haldi and kunkum.

Even stingy relatives who would only ever spend money on a 10 paise postcard to convey the gravest of news that could be private or potentially controversial, would splurge and send those 50 paise envelopes bursting with halwa

Why, long before greeting card companies took over the festival market, local producers of greeting cards made Sankranti greetings with syrupy messages and convenient little envelopes to hold the TG.

It is another matter that cheeky posties pilfered this candy by making holes in the envelopes. I suppose no one had the heart to grudge them the self-help. After all, one was supposed to spread kindness and cheer, remember.

It was in the spirit of this very same tradition that a range of TG was made in most households.

There was the “tinsel til” type of flamboyant and colourful halwa mentioned earlier, which was a more modern form of TG. The flashy halwa was most suitable for being distributed delicately out of a silver bowl with a silver spoon.

A handy token to give out during haldi-kumkum ceremonies, the “tinpot” tilachi vadi or burfi had illusions of greatness, but was at best only second-class.

The crunchy kadak whole sesame and gur/sugar laadu and the brittle sesame crisp chikki were good kiddy stuff and good fillers for the loot bags for kids during a “bor-nahan”.

The ‘bor-nahan’, quite literally a jujube-shower for kids under the age of five, celebrated the mother’s indulgence in her child in this time of post-harvest season rest, relaxation and richness. Mums prettified their bubs in trinkets made of sugar and til candy and showered them with a confetti of goodies like jujubes (ber), puffed rice, kadak tilgul crisps.  Other kids at the bash playfully plundered the confetti amidst laughter and fun.

Surely one didn’t take such toy TG seriously.

The grave gulachi poli was main-course class, reserved largely for the inner circles and adults. It wasn’t in the mithai category. Moreover, a wheaten crust and the occasional besan additives adulterated the TG element of the gulachipoli.

Revadis and gajaks were exotic shop-bought stuff that only “North Indians” ate. Although these were indulged in at other times, no self-respecting middle class Marathi Brahmin household would think of substituting their “sweat of the brow” home made TG with such til trifles during Sankranti.

The top gun of TG was undoubtedly the til-gulacha laadu - my most favourite.

Hand-pounded creamy sesame, coconut, peanuts and roasted gram, blessed with some ghee and graciously rounded off by sweet jaggery… very few sweets can match the earthy, wholesome goodness of this til and gul laadu, with more than a hint of cardamom and nutmeg!

Til Gulacha Laadu

Dates are a great healthy substitute for the sweetness, texture and taste of jaggery. Although some of the ingredients used here are unconventional, they compliment each other and add myriad textures of grates, pert pieces and air-light pops that suddenly melt in your mouth. 

This is a vegan and low-sugar and healthier version, yet as rich and decadent as the original til gulacha laadu.

Ingredients

2 cups sesame seeds, lightly roasted

½ cup peanuts, roasted and skinned

¼ cup almonds, lightly toasted

½ cup desiccated coconut, lightly toasted

¼ cup roasted chana dal (daliya)

½ cup popped amaranth seeds (I pop rajgira at home)

¼ cup flax seeds, lightly toasted

1 tbsp poppy seeds, lightly toasted

¾ tsp crushed green cardamom

1 tsp ground nutmeg

2 cups chopped and pitted dates

¾ cup grated jaggery (optional, you can increase the amount of dates, or use molasses or date molasses)

1 tbsp refined coconut oil/light extra virgin olive oil (optional)

Method

Coarsely grind the roasted/toasted ingredients except the flax seeds and the popped amaranth separately. Remove in a mixing bowl.

Crush the flax seeds very lightly with a rolling pin, so you get some whole seeds as well.

Add the popped amaranth to the bowl.

Chop the dates into fine pieces or crush them and add to the bowl. Add the spices and mix well.

Melt the grated jaggery with a little water to make one-string sticky syrup and add the refined coconut oil/olive oil and pour it over the mixture and mix well. 

Alternately, if you are using date molasses, warm it slightly and pour it over the mixture and mix well.

With lightly oiled hands roll small size laadus with about one heaped tablespoon of the mixture. Place on a plate to dry out for some time. Store in an airtight container.

Open Sesame!

Gul Poli (black sesame and jaggery stuffed pastry)

Pilao, pilao! Dheel! Dheel! Dheel! Arreyreyrey! Khinch…khinnnch! Kaaat!! Yayyy!

Every rooftop terrace resounded with the jubilant or protesting cries, whistles, party horns and drum rolls from friendly rivals flying and contesting kites in a “pench”. Everything was fair in this war, from hurling friendly insults, the squabbling over ownership of kites, the pedestrian rights of the terraces to running after the wayward defeated kites with poles in hand to claim the bounty.

The crisp and azure winter sky of my childhood came to life with hundreds of paper kites of myriad colours and designs soaring and plummeting, their tails saucily dancing after them. From dawn to dusk on the two days of Makar Sankranti, people of all ages gathered on their rooftops terraces known as chandnis or gacchis. Flying and fighting kites in the feisty winds of the winter solstice, their spirits rose and fell and rose again with the fates of the kites in duel.

The kite flying or “patang pilana” would actually start much earlier, with kids and younger folk doing a recce of the local kite stalls, staring in wonderment and longing at the lovely kites in so many shapes and sizes and the huge pastel coloured bobbins of “manja” cutting edge lines and the much larger snow white spools of the “sadha” cotton twine hanging in the front of the shops, waiting to be unravelled and measured out by the hand breadths or lacchas. Every shopkeeper had their own formula that was supposedly the wickedest, for an aggressive or potent manja played a key role in the success of the kites flying. It had to be of a good strength, suitable ply, sharpness and stiffness, but light in weight.

The kids eyed the kites they coveted, boasting to one another how they would be getting the bigger fighter kites and manjas on the days of the festival and hurried back to their pads, hugging to their chests the smaller kites and the shorter fan shaped lacchas of manja held preciously in their hands.

One Sankranti season Dada, my brother and his friends had even made their own manja, stringing cotton thread between two poles and walking up and down rubbing the length of thread with a deadly gooey paste of rice, colour and finely crushed glass! I was the hanger-on and was allowed to crew on this daring mission only because I was sworn to secrecy.

Back on the terrace, some kids were leaders and others like me, were followers and caddies. Sport of most sorts not being my forte, I was happy to faithfully tag along Dada. He was an ace sportsman, cricketer and kite flier and I was his Sancho Panza, releasing or launching the kite and then running hurriedly to take my position carrying the charak or the spool.

In between these tasks, I had to play the water carrier for the thirsty lot. I also had this critical task, which I fulfilled bursting with self-importance, of making forays downstairs to raid and smuggle some of the til gul laddus or gul polis, candied sesame seed halwa, revadis and chikkis for the warriors.

Once our nefarious activity was detected and stopped, the gang was happy to feast on some of the less sinful and more freely available plenties like the skinned sugar cane pieces, bers (jujubes) hari boot (green garbanzo beans), gengulu (Palmyra sprouts), red - not orange- carrots and pieces of “gulacha face”- the froth from jaggery boiling captured in its foamy lightness along with peanuts, roast gram dal and small pieces of copra.

Out in the sun the whole day, then moving to the shade when it stung, jumping up to squint at an interesting prize-fight, grazing, teasing, laughing and shouting ourselves hoarse, who would’ve imagined that our lives would enter another hemisphere, geographical and chronological in a southbound journey!

Gul poli

The gul-poli as this paratha is called is a traditional Marathi dish that is prepared during the Sankranti/ Lohri festival. This dish is particularly made during this season as traditionally the purpose was to eat heat-inducing foods during winter and also these ingredients are freshly harvested during this season. The accompanying dollops of ghee supposedly warm up the body. 

This year I made gul poli with black sesame seeds, for a change. Black sesame seeds are a bit more savoury and have lent this poli a nice bottom note of savouriness. The colour is courtesy the black sesame!

Ingredients

For the stuffing:

1 ½ cup grated soft kolhapuri gur

¾ cup black sesame seeds

¼ cup white sesame seeds
½ cup desiccated coconut (make sure it is not rancid)
½ cup roasted and powdered peanuts
1 tbsp poppy seeds (khus khus),
7-8 green cardamoms
A large pinch of nutmeg powder
1 tbsp ghee

For the dough:

1 cup wholewheat flour (atta)

1 cup plain flour

1 tbsp oil for shortening 

A pinch of salt
water for kneading

Method:

In a kadhai or pan toast the black sesame seeds very lightly (they become bitter if you toast them too much). Add poppy seeds to puff up slightly. Add the desiccated coconut towards the end of the toasting of the sesame seeds as coconut burns easily. Turn the heat off. Cool the roasted mixture and grind or pound all the ingredients for the stuffing except the gur. Mix the ground mixture with the grated gur and a tablespoon of ghee until it acquires an oily, moist crumbly texture that can be rolled into loose balls. 

Knead the flours, salt and oil into a smooth medium soft chapati like dough and let it rest covered for about 15 minutes. 

Make equal portions of the dough and the til-gur mixture and roll them into balls. Roll out the dough balls into small puris, with thin edges and thicker centres and place a loose ball of the til-gur mixture on it.  Fold the puri around it like a modak or a momo. Make sure to trim the excess dough peaks and then gently roll the stuffed dough ball in your hands making sure the filling has reached all over the inside of the ball. Then pat it gently into a roundel on a floured surface and sprinkle some sesame seeds on it  and roll out into a medium sized paratha, as thin as possible.

If you can see that the filling has not reached the sides during the rolling, trim the edges of the roti into a perfect round with a fluted pastry cutter. Dust the excess flour and then cook the polis on a medium hot griddle. Dot it with some oil and turn over to cook the other side and oil this side as well. 

Take care to use a spatula to turn them over as the roti can get very deceptively hot because of the gur.

Serve warm with cold ghee or cold with melted ghee.

These polis are served during the main meal during the festive season and not as a dessert, like so many Marathi sweets like shrikhand-puri, kheer-puri and puranpoli. The gul-polis stay well for a week or so (if one can stay away from them) and make a great snack, too! 

Tip

If you find rolling the crumbly stuffing in the dough difficult, add two tablespoons of besan, lightly roasted in a tablespoon of ghee (like a besan roux). This will help bind the mixture and tastes good, too! You could also try adding a tablespoon of khoya!