Grains of memory: A couple’s tribute to Panjiri and the past

The Star

In celebration of Vaisakhi 2025, Parvinder Kaur Sandhu and Hari Singh Rai share a treasured piece of their cultural heritage, homemade Panjiri.  This nutrient-rich Punjabi delicacy, traditionally prepared  for significant family celebrations, carries centuries of history in its aromatic blend of ingredients and careful preparation.  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

Transcript

00:00Every Punjabi family grew up eating panjiri on a daily basis. It was my dad's favorite till his

00:10very last days. Of course my mom had made it when we were younger a couple of times,

00:15especially after my sister's deliveries. Mine was both sides, my dadi, my nani used to make it at

00:21home. One memory of the panjiri is that it ignites a beautiful sense of aroma and smells in the

00:28entire house. For Parvindakos Sandhu and Haris Singh Rai, memories of panjiri making in their

00:35childhood homes intertwine like the ingredients of the cherries mixture itself. They often reminisce

00:41about the special moments when the warm aroma of this traditional preparation fill their homes.

00:47The smell of keogh with frying, whether it's almonds, pista and all the other things,

00:53it's a very good smell. It's nice. So that smell stays with us because it's something we used to get up

01:00to very often. Now the couple, a project manager and a lawyer by profession, continues the tradition

01:08in their own kitchen. What began simply as a personal passion to make the traditional mixture

01:13has blossomed into an enterprise. Their home kitchen insya'alam was transformed into a space

01:20where they carefully craft their signature mixture, infusing elements from both their

01:25incestal recipes.

01:27Whenever we grow up, it's always thought to us that it's very hard to make. There's a tedious process to it.

01:33So that coming into mind put us off, put us off. Then they said one day we'll just three. I said,

01:39how hard can it be? Let's try. First trial, a whole lot of hours and couple of days, yes. But after fine-tuning,

01:48it's not that hard. As she said, now we fine-tuned it to suit the current generation, this, that, and make it more of a

01:55go-to snack, go-to meal.

01:57We are quite in love in making it. You know, we enjoy the process of making the panjiri.

02:03Revyat as a superfood, panjiri originated in the Indian subcontinent, particularly in the northern

02:09region of Punjab. It is very commonly used for immunity purposes. Of course, traditionally, it was for post-bathroom.

02:18Normally mothers after delivery have panjiri on a daily basis for lactation and also for

02:25internal cure of the body. So nowadays, everybody, I would say a lot of people have it for general health benefits.

02:35For the men, the general one, it gives them strength and keeps them healthy because, you know,

02:40we all know the Punjab men do their farming, this, that, so that keeps them going and keeps them healthy.

02:47Traditionally, panjiri is a combination of roasted wheat flour, ghee, and assortment of nuts and spices.

02:55Today there are many variations of this superfood, each with its own unique taste but retaining its

03:01nutritional value. Marvinda and Hari have also made adaptions to their version of panjiri.

03:07What we have done especially is we've added a few ingredients into the normal blend of panjiri

03:13to make it a superfood and our target is just one panjiri for general health that helps with inflammation,

03:20body benefits, energy mostly. Their panjiri is made of almonds, pistachios, walnuts, cashew nuts mixed with

03:29pumpkin, melon, sunflower, flax and sesame seeds and raisins. It's topped off with our special ingredients

03:37which is oats. After oats is coconut. Once all of these ingredients are still fried with ghee, it is

03:46topped off with a blend of mixed spices which is carom seeds, caskus and fennel seeds. So once that's

03:55completed, then it is mixed in with two types of flour. The first being the rawa flour, soji, and the second one is the normal flour.

04:04Hari says making panjiri requires patience and precision.

04:09Usually each ingredient is roasted for a good 10 to 15 minutes with the ghee. So once the roasting is

04:17completed, we will then transfer it here as you can see. It's also with all the ghee and we will repeat this

04:26process for all the balanced ingredients. Usually the roasting itself for all the ingredients takes us

04:33a good 3 to 4 hours. For the final touch, what we do is we put all the mixed nuts that we have roasted

04:39here for one more time for a quick roast with the ghee. Then usually we let this settle for a couple of hours

04:50or sometimes overnight for the ghee to absorb into the nuts. The seeds and spices are also slow roasted

04:58in ghee. Separately the oats and desiccated coconut go through dry roasting. These ingredients are mixed

05:05in the main container and raisins are added to create a natural sweetness. Lastly, the semolina and wheat flour

05:14also undergo their own dry roasting process and are stored separately until the final combination.

05:21So usually we mix it. Normally two cups of the mixed nuts and seeds and this we have the pre-roasted flour mix,

05:31suji in the normal. Ingredients have been mixed and blended. See, as you can see, not too powdery so it's still

05:43crunchy and there you have it. The final product, panjiri of mixed ingredients and blend, ready to

05:50be consumed. The couple is determined to preserve this ancient panjiri superfood tradition. Our panjiri

05:57is made special for all ages, anything, even for kids, you know, as toppings or their smoothies or oats,

06:06as how people use granola. So it's the same thing with the panjiri and even for middle-aged or elderly.

06:12So our advice is that once a day, so be it for your breakfast, in between, or your tea time,

06:18three to four spoons. Our general panjiri is actually without sugar because there is a natural

06:24sweetness from the raisins. But then if anybody wants to add the sugar, of course we have that as

06:30well. Easily one month, it will stay very fresh. We have quite a number of regulars, repeated customers who

06:38are non-Sikhs, non-Punjabis. They're very amazed with it that there is such a superfood. So we are quite

06:47happy to make panjiri known to other races as well. They also want to create a greater awareness,

06:55shifting focus from its traditional medicinal benefits to positioning it as a modern superfood,

07:01suitable for everyone. We're also wanting to create awareness with the younger generation,

07:07and someday we will be able to share this recipe with the new generation and they can take it forward.

07:13So make panjiri as their snack, it's healthy, it's a traditional food, you know, so we'll be glad

07:21if that happens. So we're hoping that this wasaki, everyone can look into gifting one another a goodie bag

07:28of panjiri. Wishing all our family and friends and all Sikhs who are celebrating wasaki a very,

07:35very happy wasaki. Wasakiya di lak lak vadai hove sarayah pinjabino wishing y'all chadikla wasaki.

07:44Vaigurji ka khalsa, Vaigurji ka pate.

Category

Transcript

Recommended