Executive Chef Suraj Kumar Sahoo's Gond Rose Jam Laddus and Fig Rolls are delicious and nutritious.

Gond or tragacanth edible gum is a good source of Vitamin D, fibre and antioxidants, while anjeeror figs offer a rich supply of vitamins and minerals. 

Chef Sahoo, who hails from Odisha, won the Chef of the Year award at the 11th Hotelier India Awards in 2019.

Gond Aur Gulkand Ke Laddu

Servings: 10 

• 200 gm gond or edible gum
• 300 gm aata or whole wheat flour
• 250 gm sugar or a sugar equivalent
• 250 gm ghee + extra for making the laddus
• 50 gm almonds, chopped + extra for garnish
• 50 gm pistachios, chopped
• 50 gm cashews, chopped
• 50 gm dates, roughly chopped
• 50 gm gulkand or rose petal jam, easily available in grocery stores or online 
• 25 gm green elaichi or cardamom powder

Method

• Heat 50 gm of the ghee in a heavy-bottomed saucepan.
  Add the nuts and shallow fry over low heat until light brown.
  Cool and coarsely crush the nuts in a blender and keep aside.
• Heat the rest of the ghee in the same pan and add the gond to it.
  Make sure the gond is well-combined in the ghee or else it will not puff.
  Mix gently till it puffs up.
  Take off heat and cool.
  Keep some of the gond aside for stuffing in the centre of each laddu and the garnish.
• In the same pan (don't remove the remaining ghee) add the whole wheat flour and cook on low to medium heat until golden brown and the flour releases an aromatic smell.
  Cool and keep aside.
• In a bowl, add the sugar, green cardamom powder to the roasted wheat flour and mix.
  Add the dates.
  Add the gulkand.
  Mix well.
• For making laddus, in another larger bowl, combine the whole wheat mixture with the coarsely chopped nuts, fried gond and gently mix together.
  You also can add a little hot ghee while mixing to get a perfect texture.
  Take around 30 gm of the mixture and shape into a laddu.
  Make a small hole in the centre and stuff a little of the reserved gulkand-ghee mixture.
  Garnish with crushed gond and chopped almonds.
  Repeat for the rest of the mixture to get 10 laddus.

Editor's Note: To make vegan laddus, use cashew butter instead of ghee.

Fig Kaju Rolls

Servings: 10

Ingredients

• 300 gm anjeer or dried figs
• 200 gm cashews
• 100 gm pistachios
• 400 gm sugar or jaggery
• 50 gm khajoor or dates
• 1 gm kesar or saffron
• 50 gm ghee
• 50 gm poshto or khus khus or poppy seeds
• Ghee for basting

Method

• Soak the cashews in water for 2 hours and drain.
  Grind to a fine thick paste in a mixer/blender.
  Add the sugar and mix thoroughly.
• In a heavy-bottomed kadhai cook the sugar-cashew mixture over low heat.
  Add a little ghee and keep stirring for 15 minutes.
  The consistency of the mixture will be like thick dough.
  Take off heat, cool and keep aside.
• Soak the anjeer in water for 1 hour and grind in a mixer to make a rough paste.
• In the same kadhai, heat the remaining ghee and add the anjeer paste.
  Warm slowly for 10-12 minutes till the mixture resembles soft dough.
  Take off heat, cool and keep aside.
• Dry roast the pistachios and grind to a fine powder.
• Divide the cashew dough into half and keep one half aside.
  In the other half add the pista powder and mix thoroughly.
• Soak the saffron in 1 tbsp warm water.
  Add the saffron mixture to the balance cashew dough and mix well.
  For assembling the rolls, baste some ghee on a wooden board so the dough doesn't stick while rolling.
  Roll the saffron-cashew dough out like a roti using a rolling pin.
• Roll the anjeer ghee mixture out like a roti.
• Roll the pista-cashew dough out like a roti.
  Cover the saffron-cashew roti with the rolled out pista-cashew roti and place the rolled out anjeer ghee roti on top of it.
  Gently roll up to get the desired shape.
• Spread the poppy seeds on top of a flat surface and roll the dough cylinder in it.
  Keep the dough cylinder in the freezer for a few hours until it's hard enough to cut.
  Cut into roundels and serve.

Editor's Note: To make vegan fig nut rolls, use cashew butter instead of ghee.

Suraj Kumar Sahoo is the executive chef, Novotel Vijayawada Varun.