Makara - A Delight in Every Bite

So you have an oven and you fancy trying something new to revive all those deep-rooted memories of baking... if yes, then Makara is definitely something you should try making on weekends. When this comes out of the oven the sweet fragrance will bring back all those memories of a certain time that have been long forgotten.

Makara has always been one of my all-time favorite recipes when it comes to baking. There is a delight in every bite and I can never help myself from grabbing a second roll. Before we move on to the recipe let me give you a short back story of this pastry. Makara originated somewhere in the middle east and is known by different names and each country has its own unique version and a name for this pastry, where it exactly originated is still a debatable topic. Some of the names are Chimney Cake, Kurtoskalacs and it is mostly known by the name Makara in India,  well how did it get this name in India? .. that has another intriguing Story which I will tell you in short. So a few years back a TV channel called Zindagi started streaming Turkish dramas on Indian television and these dramas took India by storm many Indian's got to know about this pastry from the drama Kuzey Guney in which two poor brothers start a small business by selling this pastry on the streets of Turkey and they named it Makara which means roller in Turkish the story then revolves around how their business turned successful overnight. This is how India soon caught up with the frenzy of making Makaras and the whole of India suddenly got so feverish about it that I could even see them being sold at malls and pastry shops.

Now that we know the back story let me tell you how this is made. The traditional way of baking them is using a spit and a coal grill. But it can also be baked in a conventional oven. It is made using sweet yeasted dough which gets cut into long strips and then it is wrapped around the wooden pin and the outer surface is brushed with a thick layer of melted butter it is then rolled in powdered sugar or chocolate flakes and the best and most fascinating part of the process is watching them bake as the dough slowly turns crisp and has a shiny golden glitter and when it comes out ready the aroma is going to leave a long-lasting memory. When baked the dough is very crispy and crunchy on the outside and soft and fluffy like cake on the inside you can eat it as it is and each curl unravels layer by layer as you eat it. I usually like spreading a layer of savory cream with a dash of cinnamon powder or you can even put a scoop of Ice cream or kulfi in the hollow middle of the Makara.

I am sharing the complete recipe below I hope all of you will like this recipe as much as I did baking Makara's are always fun and very interesting, it tastes great when had with a cup of hot coffee.

 

Now, bear in mind that it can get a bit tricky when you do it for the first time sometimes it can get overbaked and turn too hard and then we end up blaming our oven ..so it needs a little practice once you get a hang of it you will be able to bake them properly.

Ingredients

•  250 gm all-purpose flour
•  2 teaspoons of instant yeast
• 2 tablespoons of  granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1  egg 
• 3 tablespoons  of melted butter (salted)
  
• ½ cup of milk
  
• sugar
  

 Topping

•  ground walnuts 
• 2 teaspoons of cinnamon

 

 Method

1. In a bowl you have to mix, flour, sugar, and salt then add the egg, milk, butter, and yeast knead for about 10 mins until it forms a dough.
   
2. Transfer this dough to a well-greased container
3. Keep it aside for some time and allow the dough to rise .
   
4. If you are using the oven cover the wooden rolling pin with a sheet of aluminum foil.
   
5. Brush the pins with a layer of melted butter to prevent the dough from sticking to them.
   
6. Sprinkle flour on the surface and take one portion of the dough and spread it.
   
7. Cut the dough into long strips using a pizza cutter or a knife. 
   
8. Then wrap a strip of dough around the wooden pin, add more strips if it doesn't cover the entire pin.
   
9. Brush the outer surface with melted butter so that it gets a crispy coating when baked.
   
10. Roll it in powdered sugar.
    
11. Preheat your oven at 150C for 10 Min and then place it in the oven and bake for 15 to 20  min till the outer crust turns brown.
    
12. Keep turning the wooden pin in the oven to make sure it gets baked properly on all sides.
    
13. When it comes out of the oven roll it in sugar and walnut this is the last step.

That's it, your Makara is ready to eat, and like I said you can add cream or Ice cream or eat it straight from the oven as it is.

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Photo Credit : 1 , 2 , 3 licensed under CC BY -2.0