Sutarpheni/ Sutarfeni - Take Two - The Professional Version

I had made this a few days ago and the version made with just all purpose flour, water and ghee was a big hit at home. However it didn't look the same as the store bought version which is usually white and has very fine strands. I was however not completely happy with the result. I wanted to figure out how to make the same version as the professionals in the sweet shops make. I had to figure out a way of stopping the threads from collapsing into each other as they became thinner and another was to find a way to be able to cook the sutarpheni and keep it a white color instead of a golden brown. Also I had to use a finer instrument than a fork to separate the threads out.

So I made a couple of adjustments to the original recipe, eliminated some steps which didn't seem essential to the thread making process and was able to make the perfect sutarpheni, just like the store bought one. This version was as laborious as the first one but the end result was so perfect, I was completely thrilled. So here is the recipe for the professional version. 

Ingredients 

1 cup all purpose flour

Water to knead dough and for syrup

3/4 cup ghee to soak dough

2 tbsp corn flour

1/2 cup oil

1/4 tsp salt

Oil for frying

1 cup sugar

sliced almonds and pistachios for garnish (optional)

rose water (optional)

Method

Add the salt to the flour and using minimal water, knead the all purpose flour into dough. It should be a tight dough. Cover the bowl and let it rest for at least 1 hour upto 3 hours. The dough will soften.

In a plate/tray which has an edge, pour the ghee and oil. Add cornflour to it and whisk up the mixture with your fingers or a fork for a minute or two till it is well mixed. 

Then divide this dough into 3-4 pieces, each a large fistful. Roll each piece into a ball, flatten it and make a neat hole in the center of it (like a doughnut) and place each ball into the tray. The ghee, oil and corn flour mixture will rise up into the center hole and prevent it from closing up. Make sure to place these in an order. Now start with the first dough ball. Stretch the center hole as long as you can (the dough shouldn't tear) and place it back in the plate. Do the same with all the pieces. Make sure you maintain the order. Then let them rest for a minute or two. Then start with the first dough piece and stretch the center out further. If it becomes a very long loop, wrap it over itself (like you would wrap a thread). Do this with each piece. Repeat this process or elongating and wrapping till you start seeing fine threads in your dough ball (see video below). Keep winding the threads onto themselves as you keep elongating it. It took me about 1.5 hours of wrapping to get really thin threads.

Heat the oil in a frying pan. Once hot (test the oil temperature by adding little dough and if it comes up immediately, it is hot) place one of the dough ball which should look like a thread ball into the ghee. Use a sharp skewer to tease the dough strands away from each other. Fry at a medium high temperature and fry it till the bubbles start to subside. It will take a a minute or two. Then flip it over and fry for another 30 seconds to a minute. It will feel soft as you turn it. 

Remove it and drain completely. At this stage you can store it for later use.

To make the syrup

Cover the sugar with just enough water to submerge the sugar. Now bring it to a boil and boil it for a couple minutes and make a simple syrup. Once cool, pour this syrup over the sutarpheni or dunk the sutarpheni in the syrup. You can add rose water to the syrup. 

You can also sprinkle powdered sugar on the sutarpheni when hot and let it melt.

Garnish with slices pistachios and almonds. 

Tips

Addition of the cornflour helps in keeping the threads separate and prevents them from collapsing into each other, as the other dough balls are being processed. It is easier to control the oil temperature and things fry at a slower pace in oil than in ghee. Hence the color of the sutarpheni can remain white even when it is completely cooked.