Veggie Platter: Buns

Thursday, April 19, 2018

A - Z Indian Street Foods ~ P for Paalakhova Bun / Kurnool Khova Bun

I had thought of everything from pyaara chaat to paani puri for today’s recipe but ended up making these sweet and yummy khova stuffed buns instead. I hadn’t heard about them until a fortnight ago when my sister in law casually mentioned in a conversation when we were quizzing her about jamun buns. The jamun buns started to sell around in late 70’s or early 80’s in Kadapa. My husband kept telling me that he and his brother, a couple of years older than him were the only ones who had tasted those jamun buns and his other older siblings were already adults and probably had never even heard about them. My sister in law who was also not sure what these buns were asked us whether they were similar to khova buns. I immediately hopped into the web world like any good blogger would do and found out surprisingly, that the khova buns are a specialty of Kurnool district in Andhra Pradesh, which coincidentally happens to be a neighbor of my husband’s hometown.

I kept wondering whether I need to post one more bun with sweet stuffing after jamun buns but gave in when I realized that cooking and clicking hardly takes 10 minutes for this recipe. These paalakhova buns need only two ingredients as the title suggests - buns and khova / khoya, the cooked and sweetened milk solids. There is a town called Guvvalacheruvu in Kadapa district where khova is a popular commodity. People from other towns flock to the small town to buy their paalkhova. The paalakhova production is a cottage industry in the town. I love their khova and thought of making it from scratch and realized I didn't have to toil so much when cooking for one. I therefore opted for the easy, instant microwave version and got the paalakhova done in 8 minutes. (Paalu is milk in Telugu and paalakhova means khova made from milk.)

Use if you have any sweetened khova/khoya at home that can be spreadable and these buns can be made in no time. It is ridiculously so easy preparation that I wondered whether this needs any recipe at all. All one needs to know is how to spread jam on a bread slice.

Don't spread the khova on both halves since that becomes too much sweeter to handle if you are using the microwave version. If khova was prepared from scratch and the sugar quantity was controlled or if one likes a really sweetened version, then go spreading the khova on both halves of the buns.

My vote went to jamun buns compared to this but these were delicious too. Even my daughter who is a self proclaimed sweet hater loved these buns.

Ingredients per serving:

1 bun

Sweetened khova as needed

Method:
Split the bun into two halves. Smear one half of the bun with khova and place the other half over it and enjoy.

So far, on this series,
A for Aloo Kabli
B for Bajra Vada
C for Chooda Matar
D for Dahi Batata Puri
E for Elaichi - Kesar Lassi
F for Fulwadi
G for Ghugni Chaat
H for Hare Chane Ki Chaat
I for Indori Garaadu Chaat
J for Jamun Bun
K for Khakra - Chana Bhel
L for Locho
M for Masala Puri Chaat
N for Nippattu Masala Chaat
O for Onion Pakoda

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 87

An InLinkz Link-up

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Thursday, April 12, 2018

A - Z Indian Street Soods ~ J for Jamun Bun

My husband's hometown is Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh and naturally he has fond memories attached to the place. Y.V. Street happens to be the central point of that town both literally and figuratively. It is the primary business center and the focal point for all the hustle bustle of the town. My husband's ancestral home used to be smack right in the middle of this area and a few steps outside in the evening would land him in the tempting zone of street foods. I guess as a kid, it was definitely enchanting to him considering that the man hasn't changed much at all in his love for street fare.

This jamun bun seems to be one of his favorite during those times and he wanted me to recreate that magic once more. He remembered what went in though he forgot the name of these delicious sweet buns. He wasn't even sure that any one sold these buns anymore in the town. I had never heard about it before and so, was no help in figuring out the name of this bun. A few calls to his siblings and even a friend in Kadapa resulted in knowing that these buns are still sold in the town. That particular friend had in fact ate that bun the previous day he was called but said that he doesn't recall the name either.

These buns have gulab jamun stuffed inside. Gulab jamun is a famous Indian dessert where spongy milk-solid balls are fried and dunked in rose flavored sugar syrup. I have never seen anyone in southern India using the rose flavor for the syrup though and so we simply call it as jamun. That's why at last we figured out that these must be obviously called jamun buns. A jamun is placed on one of the half a bun, topped with chopped nuts and sprinkled with cardamom to flavor and then syrup is poured over on the other half. I have a sweet tooth and naturally these buns tempted me as soon as I heard the description and I chose these 'Jamun Buns' for my alphabet 'J' in the 'Indian Street Foods' Series. I used the store bought instant pack of jamun mix to prepare my jamuns. These buns were a real treat and I could understand why my husband would remember these buns after all this time.

Ingredients for each serving:
1 bun
1 jamun
1 tbsp. of chopped nuts (I used pistachios and almonds.)
2 pinches of ground cardamom
2 tbsp. or more sugar syrup (used to prepare jamun)

Method:
* Open the two halves of a bun. (I used the Ham burger buns.)