Malpua Recipe

Malpua is a popular & traditional north sweet made for festivals like Holi, Diwali. These are basically deep fried flour pancakes dipped in sticky sugar syrup.

It is a very delicious treat with crispy lacy edges & soft fluffy inside. Most often this dessert is served with some thickened sweet milk and known as malpua rabdi.

There is no dearth of delicious sweets in Indian cuisine. Along with most popular ones like gulab jamun, kaji katli, jalebi there are also few more treats like this pua or malpua.

Malpua rabdi is a very popular sweet of Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa & West Bengal. It is also made commonly in Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan with slight variations.

This dish is also known as pua in some regions. In this post I am sharing a very detailed & best malpua recipe along with step by step photos, tips & variations.

What Is Malpua?

Malpua is a thin deep fried pancakes that is crispy yet fluffy made with plain flour, baking soda, few spices, milk powder or khoya. Some recipes also call for mashed banana.

The deep fried crepes are dipped in sugar syrup called sira. These malpuas are usually served with a thick sweetened milk

Like every Indian sweet this also can be made in many ways. In fact every region has its own twists with this recipe. Here I have shared an easy recipe for malpua that does not require khoya or milk solids.

This tasty Indian sweet is very popular in north and west India. Malpua is prepared during Diwali, Holi and Dussehra especially. Traditionally it is believed that this sweet was made with barley flour and served as sweet cake.

Ingredients

To make this delicious traditional Indian sweet we need just few ingredients. All the ingredients used in this recipe are commonly found in Indian homes.

So with just a bit of planning you can make this easy malpua recipe at home with my simple recipe. Along with Indian festivals you can also serve this as dessert in your next party. So rich, delicious and royal!

Plain Flour Or Wheat Flour

Traditionally malpua recipe is made with refined flour or plain flour only but you can easily use whole wheat flour of you prefer. Malpua with wheat flour will be a bit dense and dark in color. You can even use a mix of all purpose flour and wheat flour for making malpua batter.

Rice Flour

Along with plain flour sometimes rice flour is also added in small quantities. Adding rice flour lends a wonderful texture and makes these pancakes super light. Also adding rice flour lends that crispy lacy edges. Instead of rice flour you can also add corn flour or fine rava.

Milk Powder Or Khoya

Usually a wee bit of milk powder or khoya (mawa) (dried milk solids) is added to the batter for that rich taste and flavor. You can use either or just skip if you don’t have them. I sometimes also add sweetened condensed milk.

Spices

Spice like fennel seeds, cardamom & saffron are used for flavor in this malpua recipe.

Sugar Syrup

We will make a simple thick sugar syrup for dunking the fried pancakes. You don’t have to check any string consistency here. We just need a simple sticky syrup like gulab jamun. You can use any type of sugar.

Other ingredients

Full fat milk, Oil for frying malpua, you can also use hot ghee. Chopped nuts & rabdi or thickened milk for serving malpuas.

How To Make Malpua Recipe

Making Malpua Batter

Take all purpose flour, milk powder, fennel seeds, saffron, cardamom powder in a mixing bowl, Add a pinch of salt and mix well. You can add cardamom powder or freshly pounded green cardamom pods. You can also add a pinch of baking powder. Instead of baking powder you can also add baking soda.

Add warm milk mix well. whisk very well to form a free flowing batter without any lumps. The batter should be like appam batter (pouring consistency)

Let the batter sit for 20-30 minutes.

Make The sugar syrup

Bring 1/2 cup water to a boil, add 3/4 cup sugar and cook in medium heat until sugar dissolves.

Add a pinch of saffron and some cardamom powder.

Mix well and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the sugar syrup pan from flame and set aside.

Frying Malpua

Heat oil or ghee for deep frying in heavy frying pan.

Mix the prepared batter once, and take a ladle full of batter and pour in the hot oil. Fry the malpua in medium heat. Cook from both sides until golden brown and edges turn crisp.

Remove from oil. Gently squeeze to remove excess oil and immediately soak the hot malpua in the sugar syrup. Soak for few seconds and remove. repeat the same with the remaining batter.

Serve hot or warm with rabdi. Add chopped almonds or pistachios as garnish.

Tips For Making Best Malpua.

First of all you can use wheat flour instead of plain flour. Just note that when made with wheat flour the malpua will be more dense and thick. It is a personal choice.

Instead of milk powder you can use same amount of khoya.

You can add 1/2 cup of mashed over ripe banana to the batter. This will make the malpua more fluffy.

In some places coconut is also added to the batter. You can add 1 tablespoon finely grated coconut.

Making this sweet is easy especially if you follow this instant malpua recipe. Traditionally the batter has to be fermented over night. But here I am sharing the recipe where you just need to rest the batter for 30 minutes.

Also use ghee for deep frying malpua for best taste and flavor. You can also shallow fry them with just 2 or 3 tablespoons ghee.

How To Serve Malpua

Serve malpua hot or warm along with chilled rabdi. However rabdi is optional. You can even serve them plain with some nuts on top.

Malpua tastes best when served hot or warm. While you can refrigerate any leftovers for 2 days, just reheat them gently before serving for best taste.

Variations

Shallow Fried Malpuas

If you are trying to avoid deep frying you can totally do so. Just prepare the batter and cook as you would for pancakes or add 3 tablespoons in a small flat pan and shallow fry.

You can also use appe pan and cook this batter. You can make thick or thin malpuas as per your liking.

With Mashed Bananas

Some variations of malpua recipe include ripe bananas in them. You basically mash a medium sized ripe banana thoroughly and add it to the batter. It tastes very good and the banana malpua turns out super soft.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Indian Sweets Recipe.

Gulab jamun,

rasgulla, rasmalai,

basundi,

jalebi,

kalakand,

besan ladoo

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