How to Prepare GurPrasad

prashad in wok

 

Step 1

Wash your hands and do a short Ardas to bless the preparation.

Step 2

Assemble the utensils needed for cooking

  • Measuring cups
  • Cooking spoons (preferably stainless steel)
  • 2 pans (a wok is often used as well) one pan should be large enough for combining your ingredients and one pan should be large enough to combine your honey and water)
  • Bowls to put the prashad in when finished cooking

Step 3

Set out and measure the ingredients

  • Ghee
  • Whole wheat flour
  • Honey
  • Water

Some Gurprasad Recipes Available Here

Step 4

Begin cooking the ingredients

It is ideal to recite Japji while preparing Gurprasad.  If this is not possible, you can play a Japji or Gurbani CD which you can chant along with while the Gurprasad is cooking.  You can also chant the Mul Mantra.  The idea is that you are creating a conscious space and adding prayers and blessings as you are cooking.

Heat the ghee on low heat.

When the ghee has melted, add the flour gradually and continue to stir the mixture.  Continue to stir and cook on medium heat, until it roasts, turns brown and has a cooked smell (depending on the batch size, this could be from 10-20 minutes).  This is a delicate balance – if it’s not cooked enough, it will have a doughy, uncooked flavor; if it’s cooked too much, it will burn.

In a separate pan, simultaneously while the ghee and flour are cooking, slowly boil the water with the honey and skim off the white froth from the mixture as it boils.  You want to have time to skim off the white froth before you need to add this honey water to the ghee/flour mixture and you want the honey water to be boiling when you add it to the ghee/four mixture, but you don’t want the water to start boiling off; so adjust the heat accordingly.

Once the ghee/flour mixture is cooked enough, using oven mitts (careful, everything will be steaming quite a bit), pour the boiling water and honey mixture into the the larger pot (or wok) with the cooked ghee/flour mixture.  Keep the flame on low until the mixture congeals.  (As you stir it, the prashad mixture will congeal until it pulls away from the spoon and the sides of the pot).

Step 5

Ensure the prashad is the right temperature for serving

The prashad mixture will need time to cool before you can serve it.  If you make it just before it is needed in the Gurdwara, there are some ways to help it be cool enough to serve.

  1. You can put it in a very large bowl and spread it out so that it is only an inch deep.  Then when you place it on the table in the Gurdwara, it will have time to cool during the Anand Sahib, Ardas and Hukam.
  2. You can place it in the bowl in the sink which has a few inches of cold water in it and stir the prashad until it cools down.

If you make it early, you can also take measures to keep it from cooling down too fast, so that it is still warm when you serve it.

  1. Cover the hot prashad with plastic wrap, which will help to retain the heat so it stays warm when you serve it.  It is best not to use aluminum foil since it condenses moisture, drips in the prashad which can be toxic.

Ideally, prepare the prashad in time for it to cool naturally prior to when you need to serve it during gurdwara.  Depending on the size of the batch of prashad that you make, an hour should be a sufficient amount of time for cooling.

 

Some Gurprasad Recipes Available Here

 

 


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    • Raw sugar, known as “Jaggary” in India, was traditionally used although refined sugar has more often been used as it has become universally available. In an effort to move away from refined sugar’s less healthy effects people have been using honey in place of the sugar. Some people feel that cooking honey changes it into an unhealthy food. So, there have been people trying other sweeteners like date sugar or coconut sugar with success. However, there are some Sikhs who believe that the recipe should not be changed from using sugar, refined or raw.

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