The winters call for warming foods and amongst the wonderful range of winter foods, til (sesame) is quite a favourite and festive too.
There are so many versions of this famous winter sweet, and the best part is that it is quite healthy. Comes with the goodness of sesame and jaggery and that makes it rich in calcium. This version of the sweet is softer and hence easier to bite as compared to the ones made with sugar.
Gajak which is made from til and it is a North-Indian favourite, made across the region. The temperatures can really drop low in these parts of India and the people fondly make this as something to store and eat through the day. It really can be had anytime. It is fuss free and great option to carry while on travel.
The most famous Gajak can be found in these Northern cities of India – Agra, Meerut, Jaipur, Morena in Madhya Pradesh etc.
On my recent visit to Jaipur, I saw that Gajak was sold all over the city. Both in the famous sweet shops as well as on the streets. This til (sesame) and (gur) jaggery sweet is quite similar to the til laddoos or til chikkis that we famously find in Maharashtra & Karnataka – the only difference is that in Gajak the til is ground in this case.
I was particularly impressed with the mawa gajak and wanted to try making it in my own kitchen and so I did. I am happy the way it turned out and so sharing the recipe with my family of readers.
Happy Makar Sankrati / Lohri / Bihu / Pongal to all
Mawa Gajak
Ingredients :
- 150 g Sesame Seeds (white til)
- 1 tsp ghee
- 100 g mawa / khoya
- 100 g grated organic jaggery
- ½ tsp Cardamom powder
For rolling the Gajak
- Butter paper / Aluminium foil
- 4 – 5 cashewnuts & pistachios finely chopped
- ½ tsp roasted sesame seeds
Method :
- Take sesame seeds in a pan or wok and roast on low flame until there is slight change in color and they get fragrant. Keep stirring constantly to ensure they do not burn.
- Transfer the roasted sesame seeds to a plate and let it cool.
- Once cooled coarse grind the sesame seeds on pulse mode in a mixer jar and keep aside.
- In the meanwhile, use the same pan to add 1 tsp ghee. When the ghee is hot, crumble the khoya / mawa with hand and add to it.
- Continue stirring on low flame till the khoya melts completely and you see very slight change in color.
- To this melted khoya add grated jaggery and keep stirring to mix well.
- Cook till the mawa and jaggery till it dissolves completely.
- Then add coarsely ground roasted sesame seeds and cardamom powder to the khoya-jaggery mixture and stir nicely to mix all the ingredients well. Keep stirring till the mixture leaves the sides of the pan. (This may take a 3 to 5 minutes on medium to low flame)
- Remove the hot gajak mixture on to a ghee greased butter paper or aluminium foil and form a cylindrical log.
- Now sprinkle finely chopped cashews, chopped pistas and a few sesame seeds on the surface and roll the gajak log to evenly coat the nuts.
- Tighly roll the log and seal in the butter paper / foil and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, you will find that the gajak is quite firm. Now cut the gajak into slices of desired thickness and serve.
- These mawa gajak rolls keep good for up to 3 – 4 days if kept outside and for 10 to 12 days if stored in refrigerator.
