Shital's-Kitchen: Sutarfeni/ Sutar Pheni

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Sutarfeni/ Sutar Pheni

Sutarfeni or સુતરફેણી means threadlike noodles spun together. These noodles could be sweetened or unsweetened. Unsweetened noodles can be eaten with warm milk and nuts to form a noodle porridge. Sweetened ones can be eaten as it is from the box :) Being brought up in Mumbai,  I remember eating sweetened sutarfeni. I had not even seen unsweetened ones until I moved to the US. In fact, it is really difficult to find the sweetened sutarfeni here. This is one of my favorite sweets since the childhood. And the best sutarfeni in Mumbai was sold at 'Parsi Dairy Farm', a famous Parsi sweet shop at Princess street, Mumbai.

It is easy to make and for all the sweet lovers out there, these shredded noodles are lightly sweetened and melt in the mouth. Your guests will be super impressed by you if you serve them this fine and delicate sweet!

To begin with, I found the shredded filo dough packet at a Mediterranean grocery store near my house. I had bought the packet to wrap paneer (cottage cheese) and to fry it. Basically I wanted to make an appetizer. Instead, I thought of making a sweet of it! Shredded filo dough is also called Kataifi and is found in the frozen section of the store.
I pulled out few long strands and arranged them in a circular fashion in a metal sieve/strainer. 

These strands were then fried in hot ghee or clarified butter for 15 seconds.
I gently removed them from the stainer on a paper towel. Made remaining sutarfenis! These were small ones, each of 3 inch diameter. Big round ones can also be prepared depending on the size of metal strainer.
I let all the prepared circular sutarfenis cool well. 

While they were cooling, I prepared a thick sugar syrup with 2 cups sugar and 1/4 cup water. I added a tsp of cardamon powder the the syrup and allowed the sugar syrup to cool completely.

I arranged all the fenis on a cooling rack. Then poured cool sugar syrup  over the fenis. Around 2-3 tbsps. of sugar syrup should be enough for each feni.



Here comes my favorite part! Sprinkling chopped  almonds and pistachios over the sutarfeni so that the nuts are held by the dried sugar. Also, sprinkling some freshly ground cardamon powder gives fresh and wonderful flavor as you bite into the sweet.  Although I felt like picking up one, I let these noodles absorb the sugar syrup and set well. Once the sugar dries, sutarfeni is ready to serve. I immediately offered one to GOD (as we do before tasting any sweet or food) and then got the bite of it!

Here is a batch of Sutarfeni I prepared for the Annukut at BAYVP Vaishnav temple Milpitas.

  Enjoy these delicate sweet threads, Sutarfeni!

10 comments:

  1. Shital, your blog and recipes are awesome. I followed a khandvi recipe today. Came out delicious.
    I have a box of unsweetened suterfeni sitting in the cabinet. Can I put sugar syrup on it to make sweetened suterfeni? If yes, please let me know the procedure... Thanks

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    1. Thanks a lot for your comment. :)

      If you have unsweetened sutarfeni, you could make sugar syrup by making thick sugar syrup with 2 cups sugar and 1/4 cup water. Bring it to boil. Add a tsp of cardamon powder the the syrup and allow the sugar syrup to cool completely. Pour it lightly over your sutarfeni. If the box of sutarpheni that you have is old and has made the pheni soft, give it a quick dip to fry in hot ghee and to refresh them and them pour cool sugar syrup on it. Sprinkle some chopped nuts and enjoy.

      Sweetened pheni or sutarpheni is my favorite. :)

      Hope you enjoy it too. Do leave me a feedback of the end product or send a picture on my facebook page.

      Happy & Sweet Cooking!
      Shital

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  2. Hello Shital, I absolutely love these and wondered for ages how to make them or where I could get them in the UK. My mother's family is Mauritian and normally at weddings, we are given some sweet desserts/cakes like these as a token or a thank you. I ate so much of them! So I have to ask, when it's fried in Ghee, do you simply just rest the strainer in the pan and let it fry? Also, I normally find the vermicelli in a dried form, so should I boil it in water to soften before using this method? Thanks!

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    1. Hi,
      Yes, this is one of my favorite sweets too, and I can eat a lot of it :)

      To fry it, just rest the strainer into hot ghee for 10-15 seconds. You do not want to let it turn dark. You need not boil dry vermicelli, just fry it. If you find the fried one, just pour sugar syrup and garnish with nuts.

      Hope you like it...I love the way it melts in the mouth!

      Thanks,
      Shital

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    2. Hey,

      Thank you for the quick response. I love your blog by the way, lovely food!

      So even though the dry vermicelli I have is quite stiff, it will soften in the ghee?

      Thank you, me too it's a lovely flavour!

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    3. You are most welcome :) I would suggest you look for Kataifi in the middle eastern aisle or store. It is freshly frozen and is bendable to arrange it in the strainer and fry it. it is even thinner than our vermicelli.

      Happy cooking! :)

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    4. First, I tried to prepare like semiya adding to hot milk. It just dissolves in milk! It is also very difficult to fry in oil it sticks all over. Thanks for telling right way to make it.

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  3. Can You Inform Me Sutarfeni's Nutrition Facts (Value).

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    Replies
    1. I don't know the Nutition Value of Suterfeni. Sorry about that.

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  4. what should be the Temperature of Sugar Syrup alongwith it's Brix while pouring it over Unsweetened Feni?

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