Soan papdi is a popular dessert in the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

. It is made of

gram flour Besan or gram flour is a pulse flour made from chana dal or chickpea flour (split Bengal gram) or brown/ ''kaala chana'', a chickpea. It is a staple ingredient in the cuisines of the Indian subcontinent, including Indian, Bangladeshi, Burmese, ...

(besan),

all-purpose flour Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures. ...

ghee Ghee is a type of clarified butter, originating from South Asia. It is commonly used for cooking, as a Traditional medicine of India, traditional medicine, and for Hinduism, Hindu religious rituals. Description Ghee is typically prepared by ...

, sugar and milk. It is usually cube-shaped or served as flakes, and has a crisp and flaky texture. Traditionally sold loose in rolled paper cones, modern industrial production has led to it being sold in the form of tightly formed cubes.

Origin

The name of the sweet according to various dictionaries derives from sohan in Hindustani, which is etymologically derived from the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

word shobhan ("beautiful"). Though soan papdi itself has no confirmed origin. One hypothesis is that it originated in the western state of

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

, India. Culinary anthropologist Kurush F. Dalal states that soan papdi is a Persian dish, with the word "soan" being of Persian origin from the desert ''sohan pashmaki''. Other speculation about its origin ranges from

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

and

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

. San papdi is its name in Uttar Pradesh and

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

, "san" means fibres that the sweet contains. It bears some resemblance to the ''

Dragon's beard candy Dragon's beard candy ( zh, t=龍鬚糖, s=龙须糖, p=lóng xū táng, first=t) or Chinese cotton candy or Longxusu ( zh, t=龍鬚酥, s=龙须酥, p=lóng xū sū) is a handmade traditional Chinese confectionary similar to floss halva or Weste ...

'' in China, '' Kkul-tarae'' in Korea, and Persian ''pashmaki'', which gave rise to the Turkish '' pişmaniye''.

Ingredients

Its main ingredients are

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

flour Flour is a powder made by Mill (grinding), grinding raw grains, List of root vegetables, roots, beans, Nut (fruit), nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredie ...

almond The almond (''Prunus amygdalus'', Synonym (taxonomy)#Botany, syn. ''Prunus dulcis'') is a species of tree from the genus ''Prunus''. Along with the peach, it is classified in the subgenus ''Amygdalus'', distinguished from the other subgenera ...

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...

, and

cardamom Cardamom (), sometimes cardamon or cardamum, is a spice made from the seeds of several plants in the genus (biology), genera ''Elettaria'' and ''Amomum'' in the family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to the Indian subcontinent and Indon ...

References

External links

Annotated video recipe
illustrates traditional hand-made technique for creating Soan Papdi's crisp multi-layers (filmed at ''Shreya's Sweets''

Hampankatta Hampankatta (also known as Happananakatte/Hampankatte/Hampananakatte/Hampanakatte and pronounced as 'Hampanakatte' in Tulu and Kannada) is the centre of Mangalore City, Karnataka. Most of the public utilities are located here. Hampanakkatte wa ...

, Mangalore); ·Permaculturetravel· YouTube Channel
Demonstration of modern mechanized equipment
in the making of pişmaniye, a related Turkish confection {{Cuisine of Pakistan Amorphous solids Breakfast Candy Chickpea dishes Halva Mughlai cuisine Pulled candy Semolina dishes South Asian cuisine Sugar confectionery Vegetarian cuisine Indian confectionery Indian desserts Street food in India Pakistani confectionery Pakistani desserts Bangladeshi confectionery Bangladeshi desserts Iranian confectionery Iranian desserts Bengali cuisine Bihari cuisine Maharashtrian cuisine Punjabi cuisine Rajasthani cuisine Uttar Pradeshi cuisine

Origin

Ingredients

See also

References

External links