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Ghevarघेवर

⏱ Prep 20m🍳 Cook 75m🍽 Serves 4🌿 Vegetarian

Video: Hebbars Kitchen (YouTube)

Ghevar is one of those sweets that feels almost architectural — a round, latticed disc of deep-fried flour batter, soaked in sugar syrup until it glistens, then blanketed with thick rabri or scattered with pistachios and saffron. It belongs to Rajasthan and the monsoon festival season, particularly Teej and Rakshabandhan, when halwais sell stacks of it wrapped in foil. Making it at home is genuinely achievable once you understand the batter temperature and the pouring technique — the honeycomb structure forms almost on its own.

📍 Make it in Plano

This recipe is the same everywhere — but where you buy the ingredients and eat the dish is local to you.

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Ingredients

🌍 Cooking abroad? Substitutions
  • Ghee in large quantity is essential for the frying — it is what gives ghevar its characteristic flavor and crispness. If cost is a concern, you can reuse the ghee after straining; it keeps well for several batches of ghevar.
  • If you cannot find full-fat milk to make rabri from scratch, use store-bought condensed milk diluted with cream to approximate the thickness, flavored with cardamom and saffron — it won't be identical but works as a topping.
  • The narrow, tall pot is important — a wide frying pan will not give you a disc shape. A deep 6-inch cake tin, a tall steel saucepan, or even a large deep can are all workable substitutes for a traditional ghevar mold.

Method

  1. 1Make the rabri first: bring 1 litre of full-fat milk to a boil in a wide, heavy pan. Reduce heat to low-medium and simmer, stirring frequently and scraping the sides back in, for 45-55 minutes until the milk reduces to about one-third and thickens. Add sugar and saffron milk, stir well, and cook 5 more minutes. Cool and refrigerate.
  2. 2Make the sugar syrup: combine sugar and water in a saucepan, bring to a boil, and cook to a one-string consistency. Add cardamom and saffron. Keep warm on the lowest heat.
  3. 3Prepare the ghevar batter: rub the cold solid ghee into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Gradually whisk in the ice-cold water and milk to make a very thin, smooth, pouring batter (thinner than dosa batter). Add lemon juice and whisk again. The batter should flow off a spoon in a thin ribbon. Rest for 10 minutes.
  4. 4Place a deep, narrow pot or a deep saucepan (a 15-17cm diameter tall pot works best) on the stove. Fill with the 1 kg of ghee until about 8-10 cm deep. Heat to 180C (a drop of batter should rise immediately and steadily, not brown too fast).
  5. 5Hold a ladle of batter about 15 cm above the center of the pot and pour a thin, steady stream into the hot ghee, aiming for the center. The batter will splutter, foam, and form a lacy disc. Wait for the sizzling to calm, then pour another thin stream into the center. Repeat 4-5 times, pouring in small amounts and waiting between each pour, building up the honeycomb disc gradually. Cook until the ghevar is pale golden and crisp, about 4-5 minutes total.
  6. 6Lift the ghevar out gently using a skewer or a thin spatula inserted through the center. Hold it over the pot to drain excess ghee, then place on a wire rack.
  7. 7While warm, dip the ghevar into the warm sugar syrup for 30 seconds, or ladle the syrup over it generously. Let it soak for 2 minutes, then transfer to a serving plate. Spoon cold rabri liberally over the top and scatter with sliced pistachios and almonds. Serve at room temperature.

A Desi.Net original recipe · part of our Indian Cuisine library. Confirm details and adjust to taste.

Ghevar Recipe — Rajasthani (घेवर)