As a Surti, enjoying Winter Special Food is a must! We all are eagerly waiting for winter as the cold season brings many yummy seasonal delights for us
What is Paunk?
Paunk or Ponk is millet. It is derived from the roasted Jowar or Sorghum grains. We can also say that it is freshly harvested immature green Jowar which tastes sweet.
The Processing of Paunk is done in this way…
The farmers harvest the Paunk and go through an entire cleaning process to ensure that husk and residue is removed on the millet. Once cleaned, they are heated in piping hot ‘bhattis’ made of bricks. It takes technique and experience to roast them right.
After they are roasted, it takes an ‘army’ of people to beat the Paunk in pillow covers to separate the Paunk seeds. This is the first step of cleaning. In the next step, the seeds are again cleaned to separate the residue. This is how you get the ready-to-eat naturally sweet Ponk!
Chatpata Snacks made of Ponk
Surtis are never behind when it comes to food and Paunk is enjoyed in different ways during winter.
Ponk is savored in raw form as Ponk Seeds with the topping of ‘limbu-mari’ ni sev, tikhi sev and sadi sev. Ponk vada and Ponk Pettis served with spicy chutney is a spicy snack to enjoy with friends and family.
You can also add Ponk to salads, pulao, samosa, and even pizza! It’s a yummy additional ingredient for bhel puri too.
Along with this, we also have winter special Sakariya Daana available at Ponk stalls.
Paunk or Ponk is one of them, which is also a specialty of Surat. This snack is available during November to February.