Malpuwa

Malpuwa with spicy sauteed potato strips. Yumm.

Malpuwa or Malpa is very common Nepalese fried bread. People like to have this semi-sweet food as breakfast with warm cup of tea or coffee. It goes well with halva as a sweet companion or with any savory vegetables like sauteed potatoes or chickpea curry. Not only for breakfast, its good to have at any time of the day as snack or desert after lunch or dinner. On the contrary to being very common household food, malpuwa is not a everyday food to prepare at home. It is made only on festive occasions unless you really crave for it like I did today and instantly made some for myself. There are small cafes or shops in every corner of big or small cities of Nepal that fry snacks like this everyday especially in the morning. People can go and buy this for their breakfast in minutes.

Its sweet or usually semi-sweet, crunchy at the edges and soft and little gooey inside and milky in taste. Its really not complicated to make this to its perfection. Here I am going to tell you really simple way; flexible recipe and method for making malpuwa. One thing very important that you need to make this bread is the patience.

Ingredients: 
Rice flour (1 and 1/3 cup)
Milk (1 cup)
Ripe banana (1 medium or small)
Sugar (1/3 cup)
Clarified butter or ghee (1 tablespoon)
Vegetable oil to fry
Baking powder (1 teaspoon)
Salt (1/2 teaspoon)

Note on the ingredients: Malpuwa can be made with wheat flour or rice flour. This time I made it with rice flour. If I document the making with wheat flour in the future, I will definitely share my experience. People also like to put fennel seeds that give it a specific flavor. I did not use fennel seeds here.

Protocol:

  

Mix all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix well with a whisker. If you are not lazy to clean up your electric hand blender or regular blender, you can use them to make a smooth batter instantly without much of a hand work-out. The consistency should be thick enough but should have a smooth flow as shown in the video clip. The consistency is important if you want to make the shape and the texture of malpuwa as of malpuwa. Set it aside while you heat the oil. 

Heat oil in a deep frying pan or a fryer. I use a sauce pan that has slightly bigger diameter than of malpuwa size I want to make. This way I do not need to waste a lot of my oil after I am done. Well, its only my thought. You can use any fryer. The important thing to keep in mind is that the oil should not be very hot at the beginning. It should be medium hot. Turn heater to a low medium heat in the beginning when you are ready to pour the batter. It is also important not to have smoking hot oil regarding safety as well, especially when you are using small vessel like I did. Bubbling and consequently splashing of oil may happen if you plunge your batter directly in smoking hot oil.

 Use a 1/3rd cup to pour the batter in the fryer. After 1 minute turn the heat to medium. Turn the side of  malpuwa after you see browning of the edges. Wait until you see light browning at the center as well. It will take few minutes each side. Have some patience waiting for it to get done well. Take it out on a paper towel that will soak up extra oil. 

Here you have a warm malpuwa. Serve with any quick curry or sauteed vegetables or meat. I like to have it with a cup of masala tea and spicy sauteed potatoes. Try it yourself and share your experience, comments or any questions you may have below. Enjoy!