traditional indian festival sweet Archives

Naariyal(coconut) ki burfi

My love for Naariyal(coconut) ki burfi started after I settled down in Chennai. I guess after my marriage if I wouldn’t have settled down in South India, I would not have learned how to prepare Naariyal (coconut) ki burfi . No, that doesn’t mean that people in North India don’t know how to prepare Naariyal ki burfi or coconut burfi. Before my marriage I hardly took any interest with my mom to prepare sweets. After settling down in Chennai and now in Bangalore whenever my husband and I were invited to anyone’s house for some special occasion, I used to get one coconut, beetle leaves, supari (betel nut) along with haldi- kumkum. In North, we never had so many fresh coconuts all year round. So, I used to be excited to get coconuts with each visit! But how much could I eat…. and how to use so many coconuts? Then I decided to learn coconut burfi. Took some tips from my mother as she is an expert in preparing sugar syrup based sweets. So now, after every festival there was coconut burfi in our house as I used to get invitations from 8 to 10 neighbors. The more invitations, the more coconuts!!!

But slowly over the years to be on the healthier side, I reduced my sugar intake and so I stopped making coconut burfi. I decided to prepare it only once a year during the occasion of Janmashtmi. But this year I prepared Naariyal ki burfi with dry desiccated coconut powder.

Is there any difference between burfi prepared with dry desiccated coconut powder and fresh grated coconut? Yes, there is…. Fresh grated coconut has lots of moisture so it takes a lot of time to reduce the moisture. With dry coconut powder preparation time is less and we don’t need to keep burfi in the fridge for 3-4 days.

I have two more types of burfi posts in the blog, can take a look… Dry fruits Burfi

Seven Cups Burfi

Some points to remember:

While measuring sugar, coconut and water we don’t need any specific measuring cups. Use any cup, glass or bowl from your kitchen and use the same vessel for measuring all three ingredients.
I had used 4 cups of sugar for 5 cups of coconut and I felt that burfi was overly sweet. So the quantity of sugar can be reduced to 3 or 3+1/2 cups.
It is sugar syrup based sweet, so it’s a bit tricky as preparing the right consistency of sugar syrup needs experience.
When sugar syrup starts becoming thick, reduce the flame and take some syrup at the edge of of spoon and from there very carefully try to check with your finger and thumb about the thread consistency. If there is only one thread formation, it means that syrup still needs to be cooked for some more time. Be very attentive because if sugar thickens more than two thread consistency, burfi would be dry and brittle.

If burfi is not properly set in the plate after cooling down also and you can feel a lot of moisture is still there, then once again collect it and put it back in the wok. Switch on flame and using spatula, stir it on medium flame till it becomes thick and sticky .It might take 5 to 10 minutes. Pour it again in another greased plate and set it down.
Sometimes we overdo sugar syrup and after cooling down, burfi is very dry and brittle. Don’t worry, we can still fix this. Crumble all burfi pieces. It will be in a coarse powder form. Pour 1/3 cup of milk in the wok, heat it and add that broken coarse powder. Keep stirring it on medium flame and when it turns thick and sticky, pour it in a new greased plate and set it down.
If it is difficult to judge whether batter is sticky enough or not to set it in the plate, very carefully (it is very hot) take 1/4 tsp batter and try to prepare it as a ball. If you are able to bind it easily, batter is ready to set in the plate.

Ingredients:

Desiccated dry coconut powder 5 cups

Granulated sugar 4 cups ( can reduce little bit)

Water 1+ 1/2cup

Milk 2 tbsp

Ghee only to grease the plate

Cardamom powder 1+1/2 tsp

Process:

Grease a big plate (preferably with high edges around it) with ghee and keep it separately.

Measure coconut powder and keep it in a bowl or plate.

In a heavy bottomed wok heat one cup of water and add sugar in it. Keep it stirring till sugar dissolves completely.

Once sugar dissolves completely, add milk. The wok would be full of bubbles.

Slowly bubbles would settle down and the impurities of the sugar will gather around the wok. With the help of spatula take them out and throw them. Add cardamom powder.

On medium to high flame let this sugar syrup boil till it reaches two thread consistency. Add measured coconut powder, quickly mix it well and spread it in greased plate evenly. With the help of flat spatula pat it nicely so that it sets down firmly.

After 10 minutes cut burfi in any shape and let it cool down completely.

Once burfi cools down completely, once again cut it into pieces with a sharp knife and spread happiness with your homemade coconut burfi!

During festivals nothing is better than gifting your friends homemade sweets…

August 28, 2020October 27, 2021

Deeksha Pathak84 Comments

Besan ke laddoo

The moment I listen “besan ke laddoo” immediately my memories go back to Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations at my parents’ house with home made besan ke laddoo. We used to get up at 2 AM and give missed call to our neighbors to wake them up. Except my father, l, my mother, sisters and brother would be ready to go to the very famous Ganesh temple in Jaipur situated at Motidungri. With the families of 5-6 neighbors and friends we used to walk around 5-6 kms to reach the temple. I am not a deeply religious person, but used to wait whole year for this day as it was a lot of fun to walk in a group and meet some other groups on the way as well… And if we would be late to reach the temple, then there would be a very long queue. So to avoid that, we used to reach very early in the temple, and come back by city bus. After reaching home, my mother would start preparation for food and that would be a very traditional rajasthani meal, Panchmel daal, Baati (traditional Rajasthani food),Besan churma,Churma (wheat flour),Gatte ki sabzi and for prasad, Besan ke Laddu.

This whole meal has a lot of desi ghee in it, so it was prepared just once a year. For besan ke ladoo, mother used to roast besan and later I used to bind it as laddu.

Manish and Apoorva both relish besan ke ladoo, so I prepare them every year. But somehow this year at Ganesha Chaturthi I couldn’t, so tried to compensate at the occasion of Deepawali..

Ingredients :
Besan :1/2 kg
Powered sugar :1/2 kg(but it is always better if you can get bura sugar)
Desi ghee : as per requirement
Cardamom powder :1/4th tsp

Process:
Take besan and sieve it to avoid all the lumps.

Take a heavy bottomed pan, heat it and add desi ghee and besan. Roast it nicely. While roasting you might feel that more ghee is required and besan is thick to stir.

But don’t add more ghee because when slowly besan starts getting roasted, it’s stiffness loosens slowly and stirring becomes very easy. And if in the beginning we will add a lot of ghee to make stirring easy, later besan would be very runny and difficult to bind.

Now, how to check whether besan is completely roasted or not? It’s very easy – just taste a little bit – if besan is not sticking to your tongue, it has roasted perfectly!

One more very important thing to take care. When you feel that within 4-5 minutes besan would be completely roasted, switch off gas and transfer besan into a flat broad pan to cool down. Remember that besan is still very hot, so during the process of cooling down, the trapped heat will roast it completely.

In between sieve powderd sugar or bura .

When besan is just warm enough to touch comfortably, add bura /powderd sugar. Never add powderd sugar in hot roasted besan otherwise sugar will melt and mix will be very thin and runny and difficult to bind.

Add cardamom powder. Mix this nicely and bind it as laddu.

Serve Ganpati first your home made laddoo and then enjoy with your whole family.

October 24, 2017October 27, 2021

Deeksha Pathak9 Comments

Dry fruits kheer

Dry fruits’ kheer is one of those desserts which you can have in breakfast. After only three or four spoons of kheer tummy will be full but you will keep on craving for more. So have one full bowl of kheer in morning breakfast and satisfy your taste buds. If your kids have sweet tooth, it is ideal and delicious breakfast for them. Dry fruits kheer can be prepared during fasting also. Every year I prepare this kheer as prasad during Janamashtami and Shivratri festivals.

There are other varieties of kheer recipes also in the blog, can take a look:

Kheer with white rice (chaawal ki kheer)

Carrot kheer

Ingredients:

Low fat milk 1 litre
Granulated sugar 1/2 cup ( less or more,depending on individual’s taste)
Mix of dry fruits: 1/2 cup
cashew, dry dates, almonds, makhana(fox nut) , chiroji, kishmish (raisins) , magaz (musk melon seeds)

(can take makhana little more in quantity than other nuts because they help in getting milk thicker)

Except magaz, chiroji and kishmish, chop other dry fruits in medium size pieces. Soak dry dates in water for half an hour and then chop.

Cardamom powder for garnish
Grated dry coconut for garnish
Pista (grated) for garnish

Process :
In a thick bottomed vessel boil milk.

The moment milk starts boiling, add all dry fruits and turn the heat on sim. Keep on stirring for the next 10 minutes – until dry fruits start boiling along with the milk.

Keep the flame on sim and in between keep on stirring and scraping the sides of the vessel. The process of thickening milk takes time, so don’t loose patience. Slowly, the process of thickening, milk will start and you will notice that from white milk is turning to pale yellow.

Now add sugar and stir until sugar is completely dissolved. Consistency of kheer is again thin because of sugar, so let it boil for 5/10 minutes more or until it becomes thick again. Switch off gas. Add cardamom powder, grated coconut powder and pista for garnishing.
Let it cool down completely, and if you like can keep in the fridge for two hours and then relish it.

August 28, 2017November 2, 2021

Deeksha PathakLeave a comment

Besan churma

Besan churma
I love sweets prepared with Besan (gram flour) whether it is besan ke ladoo, besan ki barfi, besan ki boondi or besan ka churma.
To prepare besan ka churma we need little bit of coarse besan flour, not the regular very fine grinded besan. But in case if you are not able to find the coarse besan, go ahead with any variety It will still be delicious sweet.

Ingredients:
Besan 1+1/2 cups
Desi melted ghee 5 tbsp
Water/milk for kneading (according to the requirement)
Powdered sugar /bura 3/4 cup +2 tbsp
Melted ghee later to be added in churma and for frying.
Chopped mix dry fruits and cardamom powder.
Method :

Take besan and sieve it, then add
5 tbsp ghee in it and mix it.
Prepare dough with 50/50 water/milk mix or with milk only.
Dough should be neither too tight no too soft.
Make balls from the dough and press them flat with your palms like mathri and fry them nicely in hot ghee…

Have to be really careful while frying so that the outer crust does not become very hard and from inside they should not remain raw.
So keep on changing your flame from just medium to sim.
When we are frying besan, always keep in mind that it gets fried soon compared to wheat flour, so keep a sharp eye and continuously keep on turning them upside down to avoid getting dark brown otherwise the outer layer will be too crisp and it won’t be good for churma.

Once all mathris are fried, take them out. Break them into pieces while they are hot, to avoid the outer layer becoming dry in the cooling process and grind them into mixer.

BE CAREFUL.. You are not making a powder here….we need it in the form of normal sooji or rava so turn on mixie for 5-7 seconds…and take out the mixture and sieve it in a strainer which has small holes.some big chunks of mathris would be left in the strainer. Grind them again and keep on doing the process until you finish all big pieces
Now you have CHURMA which is very dry…so add melted ghee generously. Let it cool down if still it is warm.
Then add bura or finely grinded sugar according to your taste.

Add mixture of chopped dry fruits along with cardamom pwd..

Your delicious CHURMA is ready.
You can’t stop yourself from tasting it immediately because by now your house is full of wonderful aroma of besan churma immersed in desi ghee.

August 27, 2017August 7, 2019

Deeksha PathakLeave a comment