Sutterpheni ….STRING THEORY
It
takes kneading, stretching, soaking over 3 days. Here’s why you should respect
sutterpheni
In Mumbai,
sutterfeni is a shy but omnipresent sweet. It doesn’t have the ostentatious
calorie wealth of a motichur ladoo, nor does it seduce like rabdi malpua. Yet,
it hasn’t met an eater it didn’t win over. So, where did the fluffy, stringy
sweet originate?
It turns out, a method most complex goes behind making this deceptively simple mithai.
‘Sutter’, says Ananda Solomon, executive chef at Vivanta by Taj, means ‘thread’ in Gujarati. ‘Feni’ refers to ‘fine’. Some communities also call it sutterfirni, which Umaima Chitalwala of N Lookmanji Mithaiwala assumes comes from the Islamic tradition of mixing the sweet in cold milk and eating it like thick kheer.
Solomon says the sutterfeni was born in the deserts of Gujarat and Rajasthan, from where it travelled with merchants to Mumbai. It finds a place on the desert menu of most communities that hail from the area — Bohris, Parsis and Marwaris. Silloo Nariman of Princess Street’s Parsi Diary Farm, pins it more specifically to the Khambat region of Gujarat. But the halwaiis of Rajasthan wear the tag of being the most sought-after sutterfeni-makers. Radheshyam is a third generation halwaii. Like his ancestors, he too has spent his working life at what’s possibly one of Mumbai’s oldest dairy and sweet marts. “In Rajasthan, we make sutterfeni only in winters because it needs a slightly low temperature to set,” he says.
While it’s no-occassion sweet among Maharashtrians, the Parsis anticipate it as a gift for the New Year. Muslims have it with milk during Ramazan, and fatiya, a day that commemorates the dearly departed. “Sutterfeni is not gaudy or ostentatious; that makes it a popular offering during fatiya. We say a prayer for the departed loved one over it, and savour it in their memory,” explains Chittalwala. Solomon says he has also come across a Rajasthani recipe that stuffs left-over sutterfeni into parathas.
Making sutterfeni is an astonishingly careful job that stretches over three days. It’s crucial if the resulting product is to turn out airy and soft. It’s the fragility of the threads and absence of crispness that decide its quality, say halwaiis.
To make it, refined flour is kneaded for five hours with ghee, and left overnight to soak in the fat in a cool, dark place. If the temperature isn’t complimenting, arrowroot is mixed in. The next day, the dough is divided into rounded sections, and stretched gently, after being smeared with a mixture of maida and ghee. The routine is this: pull, smear, let it rest for 15 minutes, repeat. The repeated pulling help split it into fine noodle-like thread. The halwaii stops only once the dough reaches string consistency. It could take the whole day. Stringed sections are then coiled into serving size portions, and deep fried in ghee. Gratefully, this is when ghee exits the recipe, but only to make way for a thick sugar syrup. The coils are arranged over a strainer and left to drain overnight. The following morning, the strainer is moved to sit over a shallow well of thick sugar syrup. For the rest of the day, one of the apprentices will lovingly pour sugar-syrup over mound of coil, and allow it to drain back into the well. This will go on till night, when the sugarfattened coils are stacked on a shelf and left to sleep it off under a moist cloth.
In the morning, the halwais wake up to fresh, soft and airy sutterfeni.
It turns out, a method most complex goes behind making this deceptively simple mithai.
‘Sutter’, says Ananda Solomon, executive chef at Vivanta by Taj, means ‘thread’ in Gujarati. ‘Feni’ refers to ‘fine’. Some communities also call it sutterfirni, which Umaima Chitalwala of N Lookmanji Mithaiwala assumes comes from the Islamic tradition of mixing the sweet in cold milk and eating it like thick kheer.
Solomon says the sutterfeni was born in the deserts of Gujarat and Rajasthan, from where it travelled with merchants to Mumbai. It finds a place on the desert menu of most communities that hail from the area — Bohris, Parsis and Marwaris. Silloo Nariman of Princess Street’s Parsi Diary Farm, pins it more specifically to the Khambat region of Gujarat. But the halwaiis of Rajasthan wear the tag of being the most sought-after sutterfeni-makers. Radheshyam is a third generation halwaii. Like his ancestors, he too has spent his working life at what’s possibly one of Mumbai’s oldest dairy and sweet marts. “In Rajasthan, we make sutterfeni only in winters because it needs a slightly low temperature to set,” he says.
While it’s no-occassion sweet among Maharashtrians, the Parsis anticipate it as a gift for the New Year. Muslims have it with milk during Ramazan, and fatiya, a day that commemorates the dearly departed. “Sutterfeni is not gaudy or ostentatious; that makes it a popular offering during fatiya. We say a prayer for the departed loved one over it, and savour it in their memory,” explains Chittalwala. Solomon says he has also come across a Rajasthani recipe that stuffs left-over sutterfeni into parathas.
Making sutterfeni is an astonishingly careful job that stretches over three days. It’s crucial if the resulting product is to turn out airy and soft. It’s the fragility of the threads and absence of crispness that decide its quality, say halwaiis.
To make it, refined flour is kneaded for five hours with ghee, and left overnight to soak in the fat in a cool, dark place. If the temperature isn’t complimenting, arrowroot is mixed in. The next day, the dough is divided into rounded sections, and stretched gently, after being smeared with a mixture of maida and ghee. The routine is this: pull, smear, let it rest for 15 minutes, repeat. The repeated pulling help split it into fine noodle-like thread. The halwaii stops only once the dough reaches string consistency. It could take the whole day. Stringed sections are then coiled into serving size portions, and deep fried in ghee. Gratefully, this is when ghee exits the recipe, but only to make way for a thick sugar syrup. The coils are arranged over a strainer and left to drain overnight. The following morning, the strainer is moved to sit over a shallow well of thick sugar syrup. For the rest of the day, one of the apprentices will lovingly pour sugar-syrup over mound of coil, and allow it to drain back into the well. This will go on till night, when the sugarfattened coils are stacked on a shelf and left to sleep it off under a moist cloth.
In the morning, the halwais wake up to fresh, soft and airy sutterfeni.
WHO’S THE BEST? We test-drive five candidates for
string thickness, sweetness, softness and taste. » D Damodar Mithaiwala
Where: Dadar TT Circle Price: Rs 380 per kilo Light, fluffy with
just a hint of sweetness, D Damodar’s offering comes closest to string
consistency.
» Parsi Dairy Farm Where: Princess Street Price: Rs 480 per kilo Rich, this version is not ashamed of its grease. Comes sprinkled with a fistful of almond and pista slivers.
» N Lookmanji Mithaiwala Where: Mohammed Ali Road Price: Rs 320 per kilo
They stock kadak and naram versions, and sprinkle the
order with elaichi powder.
» Suleman Usman Mithaiwala Where: Mohammed Ali Road Price: Rs 320-340 per kilo Craving thready sweetness, then this it. But you’ll notice the rosewater fragrance only if your attention is drawn to it.
» Gaurishankar Chitarmal Mithaiwala Where: Parel Naka Price: Rs 160 per kilo It’s the common man’s version, fried in vegetable fat. It's heavier and sticks together.
» Parsi Dairy Farm Where: Princess Street Price: Rs 480 per kilo Rich, this version is not ashamed of its grease. Comes sprinkled with a fistful of almond and pista slivers.
» N Lookmanji Mithaiwala Where: Mohammed Ali Road Price: Rs 320 per kilo
They stock kadak and naram versions, and sprinkle the
order with elaichi powder.
» Suleman Usman Mithaiwala Where: Mohammed Ali Road Price: Rs 320-340 per kilo Craving thready sweetness, then this it. But you’ll notice the rosewater fragrance only if your attention is drawn to it.
» Gaurishankar Chitarmal Mithaiwala Where: Parel Naka Price: Rs 160 per kilo It’s the common man’s version, fried in vegetable fat. It's heavier and sticks together.
Mitali
Parekh MM 121021
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