Pinni Recipe

Pinni Recipe made with whole wheat flour, ghee, nuts, seeds, edible gum and jaggery. Pinni is a Punjabi sweet delicacy popular in the North Indian states and is well known for its body-warming and rejuvenating properties. While it can be made with various ingredients like urad dal, rice flour or flax seeds as the main ingredient, my recipe uses whole wheat flour aka atta.

About Pinni

Pinni is a staple during winters in Northern India and a lot of people eat it along with milk during the breakfast time. It is protein rich, fiber rich and is said to provide much of the nutrition required to begin your day.

Spices like cardamoms and dried ginger not only impart great flavors but also help as a digestive aid. Seeds and various nuts like almonds, pistachios & cashews add richness, flavor and also boost the nutrition profile of these balls.

Gond, a special kind of edible gum is also used for its medicinal properties & it also adds a great crunch. To sweeten pinni, I prefer using jaggery powder but you can also use powdered granulated sugar, bhura or desi khand (raw sugar) which ever is available.

Every sweetener imparts a different flavor profile. These different kinds of sweeteners won’t make 1:1 substitution for each other. You need to adjust the quantities as required.

The key ingredient to make delicious and flavorsome pinni is “Ghee”. Use the best quality ghee and you will be rewarded with the best Pinni that will remain fresh for a few weeks at room temperature.

I have followed the traditional ratios of flour:ghee for this recipe but still they turn out to be slightly on the drier side due to the use of store bought jaggery powder. If you want you may use a few more tablespoons of hot ghee while binding.

If you are making these for little kids, either restrict to 1 pinni per day or reduce the quantity of gond in the recipe to 2 tablespoons.

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How to make Pinni (Stepwise Photos)

Preparation

1. For this recipe, you will use whole wheat flour with the bran. Slightly coarse flour is preferred for a texture but if you can’t find that you can optionally use 1 tablespoon of fine semolina. If you don’t like the crunch you may simply leave out that. Measure the following ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour (125 grams)
• ½ cup (115 grams) good quality ghee
• 1 tablespoon fine semolina (optional)

2. Store bought jaggery powder usually clumps up so add it to a grinder jar. You will powder 1 cup (100 grams) jaggery powder or half cup regular sugar to a fine powder.

3. Measure the nuts, seeds, gond and sweet raisins (optional).

• 2 tablespoons each cashews, almonds, pistachios)
• 15 grams melon seeds or sunflower seeds
• 8 to 10 grams (1 tablespoon) sweet raisins (optional)
• 2 to 4 tablespoons (25 to 50 grams) gond/ edible gum (reduce to 2 tbsps for kids)

4. Add the nuts to a grinder.

5. Pulse them only a few times ( 2 to 3 times) to break down. A few large chunks are okay. Transfer to a small bowl.

6. Add the gond to the same jar.

7. Pulse it only a few times to get a coarse mixture (not super fine).

8. Heat a thick bottom kadai with 1 teaspoon ghee. Add the raisins and seeds. Fry them on a medium heat until the raisins swell up.

9. Add the powdered nuts and stir fry on a low to medium heat, until golden and aromatic, for a few minutes. Turn off the stove and transfer this to a plate.

10. Pour 2 tablespoons ghee and heat it on a low flame. Add the gond and fry on a medium heat until it turns light and golden. Do not burn. If you find gond sticky, add another tablespoon ghee and fry. Break up any clumps & keep stirring through out the process. Transfer this to the same fried nuts plate.

Roast atta

11. Pour the rest of the ghee and semolina. Fry for 2 to 3 minutes until aromatic & crunchy.

12. Add atta and begin to saute until it turns golden and aromatic, but not burnt. If you overcook, it can burn and taste bitter.

13. Keep stirring and fry. Depending on the kind of kadai, flame and your room temperature, the saute time changes. It took me about 12 minutes, but this may not be the same for you.

14. After this time frame be extra cautious as the flour can quickly burn and taste bitter. If you smell it nutty and aromatic it is done. You may cool a bit and taste test to confirm it is no more raw. However if you prefer deep roasting, you may roast it further for a few more minutes. The mixture may or may not turn to a liquid state depending on many conditions including weather conditions & the kind of flour.

15. Move the pan to the counter. Stir in the fried nuts, seeds, raisins, ½ teaspoon dried ginger powder and ½ teaspoon cardamom powder.

16. Measure ¾ cup jaggery powder and add more if required. If using sugar, add all of the powdered sugar. Taste test and add more jaggery as needed. I used 1 cup.

Shape Pinni

17. With jaggery powder, you will get this texture. Grease your palms generously with ghee, take portions of this slightly hot mixture in your hands and press down tightly in your fist to shape it like a ball, oval or oblong shape.

18. However if the mixture cools down completely, it is hard to bind so you may need to add 2 tablespoons of hot ghee or go ahead to grind in a grinder. This grinding step makes the binding easier. Add only half of the mixture to the grinder.

19. Pulse it a few times to release the ghee. Take portions of the mixture and form pinni. Carry on with the next batch. You will be able to make around 12 to 13 pinni with this recipe.

Store pinni in a air tight glass or steel container for 2 weeks at room temperature. If you want to store them longer, refrigerate them. You can warm up cold pinni in the microwave or in the oven or IP (0 mins pressure).

Pro Tips

• Do not alter the amount of ghee to flour ratio as this is only going to leave you with a dry pinni mixture and you won’t be able to bind it.
• If you use sugar, you won’t need to grind/pulse the mixture. Store bought jaggery powder is drier and less sweeter than sugar so you need to add more than powdered sugar. This results in the mixture being slightly dry. But if you are an advanced cook, you will be able to roll it when the mixture is slightly hot.
• You will pulse the mixture only to release ghee so it helps to bind easily. You won’t powder everything there.
• Swap your favorite nuts for cashews, almonds and walnuts.
• You may slice or chop the nuts if you prefer but pulsing or processing saves lot of time.
• If you want you can also fry the gond as is in hot ghee but I feel the powder gets fried better.
• Leave out the raisins if you prefer to store longer than 2 weeks.

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