Indian Sweets

Aate Aur Til Ki Burfi

June 21, 2022 by Bhawana

A very Happy New Year to all!
Wishing you all, the happiness and blessings in 2016.
New year is there and we are almost in the last week of January. I know, time really flies! I still remember going to my Nani’s home with my mother during my vacations. I used to love all the fun and attention I get there but I was more excited to get a box of my favorite sweet freshly made by my Nani. Simple, really delicious, with a hue of sexy brown color and garnished with dried coconut flakes, my favorite Aate Ki Burfi. It has become so much part of me that my visit to my nani’s home is incomplete without it. I don”t want to publish my age around here but still after so many years its taste and aroma is still fresh in my palate and soul.

While browsing around I saw a recipe on a YouTube channel of my favorite blogger Nishamadhulika, Aata til Burfi. It refreshed the memory of my childhood and I tried the recipe with little tweaks here and there suited to our taste and voila! Perfect Sweet for my palate!

Aate Aur Til Ki Burfi

Author: Bhawana

Ingredients

1/2 cup safed Til (Sesame Seeds)
1 cup Aata (Whole Wheat Flour)
1/2 cup Khoya, grated and roasted
3 tbsp. Ghee
1 1/2 cups Sugar
3/4 cup Water
1/2 tsp. Cardamom Powder
Pinch of Saffron
Sliced Pistachios for garnishing

Instructions

Roast sesame seeds until little puffy and slight golden in color.
Grind it coarsely and keep it aside,
Roast aata with ghee on low flame until it becomes light brown in color.
It releases good aroma when its done.
Mix sugar and water and make sugar syrup with one thread consistency.
Now add roasted flour, til, khoya, cardamom powder and saffron.
Mix it well and cook until it thick enough to set.
Spread the mixture in a greased plate and garnished with sliced pistachios.
Cut it in small pieces and serve.

Kesar Layered Burfi

March 29, 2022 by Bhawana

Festival season is in full swing and so is the mood to enjoy and celebrate our culture and traditions. Karwachauth is tomorrow and Diwali in just two weeks. In our culture no matter how health conscious we are, but no festivity is complete with out sweets. Sweet is the integral part of our hospitality and festivals. But in the times when the outside sweets are laden with synthetic khoya and unhealthy additives its hard to maintain this tradition. Thanks to the technology, with the little work and google:-), easy to make, simple and elegant sweets are possible freshly made at home.
Today i am sharing recipe for elegant 2 layered burfi. With little patience its easy to make and has all the deliciousness to make the day special.

Kesar Layered Burfi

Author: Bhawana

Ingredients

Plain Burfi
2 cups Khoya, grated at room temperature
3/4 cup Boora or Powdered Sugar (adjust accordingly)
1/2 tsp. Cardamom powder
Few drops Gulab or Kewra essence (optional)
Kesar Burfi
1 1/2 cup Khoya, grated at room temperature
5 tbsp. Boora or Powdered Sugar (adjust to taste)
1/2 tsp of Saffron crushed and soak in tbsp of warm milk
Silvered Pistachios and Almond for garnishing
Few drops Gulab or Kewra essence (optional)

Instructions

Grease the tray to set the burfi.
Heat non-stick pan and roast khoya, boora or sugar, cardamom powder and essence.
Roast until the mixture is light pink in color, thickens and start to leave the sides of the pan.
The mixture should be consistency of soft lump.
Spread it evenly on greased tray and let it cool.
For the kesar burfi again heat non-stick pan and roast khoya, boora or sugar, saffron and essence.
Cook it until the desired consistency as above.
Spread the kesar mixture on top of the plain burfi.
Spread it evenly with the help of greased parchment paper.
Garnished with nuts and set aside to cool.
Cut in to desired shape and serve.

Pumpkin Halwa- Celebrating Fall with Indian Twist

March 28, 2022 by Bhawana

October month is all dedicated to fall produce and Pumpkin is the star of the month. It is a versatile hero of the season used in decorations, cooking and the pumpkin patches are the fun and a must place to visit for the kids. The blog-sphere are loaded with pumpkin recipes even i have few in my mind and draft. Navratris festival or nine days to celebrate and worship Goddess Durga was on this month of October. In the spirit of the season, I decided to make sweet that goes well with Indian ethnicity and blend well with the fall season. Pumpkin Halwa is the recipe I chose to kick start our festive season . For all health-freaks its a great recipe for toning the arms, believe me it is….!!

Pumpkin Halwa

Author: Bhawana

Ingredients

4 cups Pumpkin, grated
1 cup Sugar, adjust according to taste
2 cups Milk
1-2 tbsp. Ghee
1/2 tsp. Cardamom Powder
few threads of Saffron
1 cup grated Khoya
2 tbsp. Raisins
Almond Cashews or Pistachios, chopped

Instructions

Soak saffron in a tbsp of warm milk. stir and crushed it with the back of spoon for color.
Heat ghee in a heavy-bottomed pan or Kadai, add the pumpkin and sauté on a medium flame for few minutes while stirring continuously until the pumpkin is slightly cooked.
Add the milk, mix it well and give it a boil while stirring in between.
Now turn down the heat on low and simmer the halwa until the milk evaporates and the pumpkin is all mushy and cooked.
At this point add sugar, saffron milk, cardamom powder and raisins.
Mix well and cook on a medium flame for 2 to 3 minutes, while stirring continuously.
Add the khoya, mix well and cook another 1 to 2 minutes stirring continuously until the halwa starts to leave the sides of the pan.
Garnish with almonds cashews or pistachios.

Khajoor Mewa Roll

January 25, 2022 by Bhawana

Gifts, new clothes, mithais and lot of happiness and exuberance around….yes! that’s what festivals gives us while breaking the monotony of work and busy life. If festivals are not there our lives will be like robots with no emotions and feelings to share with family and friends. Festivals are regular days, just an excuse to rejoice and spend special time with loved ones. These are the days to break rules, diets and enmity whereas strengthens the bonds of love and responsibilities for each other. One such day to celebrate the emotional bonding between brothers and sisters is around the corner. A very very Happy Raksha Bandhan to all of you in advance.
I wanted to dedicate this post to my brother. Happy Raksha Bandhan Bhai!

Any festival is incomplete without sweet. And in the time of healthy, sugar-less sweets, this sweet will be a perfect treat for a health conscious, exercise freak, brother. This roll is like an energy bar with dates and nuts. Khajoor rolls are not new to me, my friend in UK introduced this recipe to me almost 8 years back. This is a quick recipe with hardly any work and looks delicious.
What will be a more healthier way to celebrate “bond of love” ? Be ready with an extra box to pack this yummy treat for your brother.

Khajoor Mewa Roll

Author: Bhawana

Ingredients

2 cups Khajoor (Dates), pitted & chopped
1 cup mixed Dry Fruits, toasted & chopped
1 tsp. Desi Ghee
1/2 tsp. Cardamom Powder
Few drops Rose Essence (optional)
Shredded coconut for garnishing

Instructions

Heat ghee in a nonstick pan. Add khajoor.
Cook khajoor while mixing it well.
Cook until they are soft.
Mix dry fruits, cardamom powder and rose essence.
Mix it well and let it cool for sometime.
Roll the mixture into a thick log.
Roll it on shredded coconut and wrap it tightly in cling film.
Refrigerate it until firm.
Cut it in to slices and serve.

Dry Fruit Biscuit/Cookies

January 19, 2022 by Bhawana

I don’t like baking cookies, not that I don’t like cookies in fact I am the official (“Me want cookie!”, “Me eat cookie!”), cookie monster of our home. And the reason for my aversion for baking cookies is, that most of them goes straight in to my much needed workouts tummy. Yeah! its strange that even the youngest one in our family does not go around the cookie jar as much as “ME”. My Love affair with cookies are not new, I still remember going to the bakery with my parents, and the first thing that grabbed my attention was nicely lined up round and square pieces of these buttery delights with different toppings and making them more desirable. Though its really hard for me to say any of them my favorite, as I love all of them equally but still i used to like flower shaped biscuit (yeah! back home we call them biscuit) with red jelly topping in the middle and coconut biscuit that looks like macaroons (or may be they were macaroons who knew then..:-)).

I always like the idea of serving different types of cookies lined up in the tray for guests, but irony is even now, when ever they are needed my cookie jars are always empty. So I really request my friends and family to visit us either on the day I bake cookies or on the day I get my groceries from store, so that I can serve few of them to our guests and feel better while eating rest of them in privacy. :-))
Today we are talking about Nuts Cookies, these are kind of icebox cookies without eggs and with lots of nuts. We can add cardamom powder and saffron to enhance the Indian ethnic taste to our palate.

Dry Fruit Biscuit/Cookies

Author: Bhawana

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
2 tbsp. Custard Powder
3/4 cup chopped Dry fruits
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
2 sticks of Butter, softened
1 cup Sugar
Sliced Nuts for garnishing

Instructions

Cream butter and sugar. Add dry fruits and vanilla essence. Mix it well.
Sift all purpose flour and custard powder.
Mix flour into butter mixture slowly without over-mixing it.
Make a soft dough out of it.
Use little milk or extra flour if needed for the soft dough.
Shape the dough in to logs and tightly wrap it in a wax paper.
Refrigerate the logs for an hour until firm.
Preheat oven at 350 °F.
Cut logs in to 1/4-inch thick slices. Garnish them with sliced nuts.
Bake for 12-15 mins until cookies are little brown from the edges.
Cool them for 10 mins.
Enjoy freshly baked biscuit/cookies with tea or coffee.

Mishti Doi

September 21, 2021 by Bhawana

There are few things that seems to be so easy to do but the results are not always that good. Today we are talking about the dessert, that not only tastes delicious but the name also sounds really sweet. Mishti Doi means Meetha Dahi. It is the most popular dessert in Bengali cuisine other than Rasgulla. Mishti doi is a sweet yogurt that tastes so heavenly good and its probiotic nature is good for digestion too. The recipe sounds really simple like, setting a yogurt but my mind is always anxious for the result. I already experienced the disaster one time and that gives me nightmares even now ….. Yep! Sometimes simple things makes you realize the art of cooking. But this time I came out of this nightmare with flying colors. It not only looks authentically delicious but also tastes divinely blissful.

Traditional way of serving Mishti Doi are in earthen pots, that soak up all the water and gives the thick rich taste to yogurt. After eating rich festival food, a small pot of Mishti doi is refreshing for the palate and the tummy too.

There are many recipes to make Mishti Doi. This is the most basic recipe. Now, in the time of fusion food, one can add different flavors and served with fruits and different toppings.

Mishti Doi

Author: Bhawana

Ingredients

1 liter Milk
1 can Condensed Milk
1 tbsp. Unsweetened Yogurt
1 tsp. Vanilla Essence
Saffron threads
Silvered Pistachios for garnishing

Instructions

Boil the milk in a heavy bottomed pan and reduce it to half.
Let the milk cool down for some time.
When its cool enough that one can put finger in the milk add condensed milk and vanilla essence.
Mix it well.
Now mix in the yogurt and pour it into an earthen pot.
Garnish it with saffron and pistachios and leave it overnight.
Once set, refrigerate it for a couple of hours and serve chilled.

Puran Poli

August 31, 2021 by Bhawana

Maharashtrian cuisine!! What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you read it? May be, spicy Vada Paav, steaming hot Paav Bhaji, Misal Paav, Ragda Patties or chatpati Bhel Puri. But the real food of this filmy state is much more than these easily available street food. Today we are talking about the most popular Puran Poli. Puran Poli is a sweet, soft and flaky flat bread that melts in the mouth with burst of sweet nutty flavors and makes every occasion sweet and auspicious with its presence.

Puran Poli

Author: Bhawana

Ingredients

For Puran-
1 cup Chana Dal
1 cup Jaggery (Gudh)
Pinch of Nutmeg powder
1/4 tsp Cardamom powder
Few strands of Saffron
1 cup Water
For Dough-
1 cup Whole wheat flour
1 cup All Purpose Flour (Maida)
1 tbsp Oil
Salt to taste
(I used only whole wheat flour but adding all purpose flour makes it softer and tastier)

Instructions

Puran

Wash and soak chana dal for overnite.
Boil chana dal with one cup of water and saffron for 3-4 whistles.
Drain and coarsely grind it.
Mix chana dal, jaggery, nutmeg and cardamom powder.
Cook the mixture in a nonstick pan until it thickens (spatula can stand upright in the mixture just to check it.)
Keep it aside and make small balls of the mixture.

Puran Poli Dough

Take maida, whole wheat flour, salt and oil. Mix it well.
Add water as needed and knead it in to a soft sticky dough.
Cover and leave it to rest for an hour.

Puran Poli

Make a soft dough with tsp of oil.
Take small ball from dough and roll like a puri.
Stuff puran in to rolled puri and seal the edges nicely.
Roll it evenly like stuffed paratha.
Heat non stick tawa and cook puranpoli from both the sides with little ghee or oil till it gets nice golden color.
Serve hot with a dollop of ghee over it.

Til Bugga/Til Khoya Ladoo

August 25, 2021 by Bhawana

Happy Spring to all of you! Weather is on the verge of warming up and hopefully we had the last snow of this season on that very first day of spring. Sun is going to sleep little late now and so do I. Good news is now we can go out and enjoy long walks, sit outside savor sunlight and compensate for all the vitamin D we missed in gloomy and dark winter months.

It’s not that, I go for hibernation in winter months, my chef hat was perched on my head all the time. In fact I feel winter months are good time for baking. There are few recipes in my draft but somehow never get a chance to write and share!!
This is the recipe I made on Sakat Chauth, it’s called Tilbugga or Til Ke Ladoo.

Til Bugga/Til Khoya Ladoo

Author: Bhawana

Ingredients

1 cup Khoya
1 1/2 cups coarsely powdered roasted Sesame Seeds (Til)
1 1/2 cups Powdered Sugar or Boora
1/2 tsp. Cardamom Powder
Kesar, Silvered Almonds and Pistachios for garnishing

Instructions

Roast khoya on low flame till it is very light golden-yellow color.
Let it cool for few minutes.
Then add coarsely powdered roasted sesame seeds and cardamom powder. Mix it.
Now add powdered sugar and mix well.
Shape it into small balls.
Garnish them with kesar or nuts of your choice.

Ghewar

January 6, 2021 by Bhawana

Teej has gone and Raksha bandhan is almost there. These are the two festivals we celebrate in the month of Shravan. Every festival is known for the delicacies or sweet made or consumed on that day. Ghewar is a traditional sweet made on festive season of shravan month. Ghewar has its own special significance on teej and rakhi festival.

Ghewar is a rajasthani delicacy famous in other parts of India. It is different from other sweets due to it honey-comb porous texture and taste. It looks like a complicated dish that needs lot of work. But on the other hand its easy to make if you know the basics and technique of frying the batter.

Temperature of oil is very important while frying ghewar. Batter should be thin running consistency so that its easier to pour continuously in thin stream. I try to make ghewar once a year on teej festival. On very first try it comes out so well and delicious that on second time over confidence led it to disaster.

Ghewar is mostly a technique of pouring batter in a hot oil. It is like jalebi and imarti where technique works like wonder. Malai Ghewar tastes best with the crunchy texture of ghewar and cold, sweet and creamy taste of rabdi.

Ghewar

Author: Bhawana

Ingredients

For Batter-
3 cups Maida (All Purpose Flour)
1/2 cup Desi Ghee (Clarified Butter)
3 to 4 Ice Cubes
4 cups Water
1/2 cup Milk
Few Drops Yellow Food Color or Saffron in milk
Few drops Rose Essence
Ghee or Oil for deep frying
For Syrup-
1 1/2 cups Sugar
1 cup Water
1/2 tsp. Cardamom Powder
For Topping-
2 cups Rabri
2 tbsp. sliced Almonds & Pistachios
Dried Rose Petals
Chandi Ka Varak (Silver leaf)

Instructions

Take desi ghee and ice cubes in a wide bowl.
Mix the ghee vigorously with ice cubes (preferably by hand) until ghee becomes very white.
Take out the ice cubes and mix milk, flour and 1 cup water.
Mix to make smooth batter. (no lumps)
Dissolve color in some water and add to batter.
Add more water as required to make a thin batter.
Make a batter smooth, with no lumps, light and creamy.
Prepare sugar syrup of 1 thread consistency.
For frying ghewar take a deep small pan with heavy bottom.
Fill half with ghee or oil.
When ghee or oil is smoky hot, take a batter in a ladle.
Pour in center of pan, slowly in one continuous thin stream from a little height.
Stop pouring batter when bubbles comes almost to the top. Allow froth to settle.
Pour another ladle of batter in same manner and make a hole in the center of the ghewar with a thin wooden skewer.
Repeat pouring for 4-6 times or depending on the size and thickness of ghewar required.
Cook ghewar for few minutes, pour the hot ghee over it few times.
When the center is firm and color is golden brown take out the ghewar with the help of wooden skewer.
Place on a paper towel to drain out excess ghee or oil.
Dip ghewar in sugar syrup for 20 minutes. Drain the extra syrup.
Alternatively, pour some syrup evenly all over for less sugary option.
Top it with some rabri or silvered almonds or pistachios.
Cool and serve.

Mango Shrikhand/Amrakhand

November 10, 2020 by Bhawana

Summers are in full swing now and with the warm weather outside, anything cold, creamy, sweet is blissful and divine to the palate. Desserts are the sweet endings to a meal. Sweets give the food perfect landing in the stomach with the bursting flavors lingering in the mouth for some time. For the sweet tooth like me, any meal is incomplete without dessert. People think dessert making is a tedious task but the dessert I am sharing today is unbelievably simple and perfect for summers.

Shrikhand is a yogurt based dessert popular in Maharashtra and Gujarat. It is a sweet combination of yogurt, sugar, cardamom, and saffron. Mangoes “king of fruit” gives a fresh flavor to a already delicious sweet. It is also called Amrakhand and is a important part of any meal in western part of India.

Mango Shrikhand/Amrakhand

Author: Bhawana

Ingredients

3 cups Hung Yogurt
1 cup Mango Pulp
1/2 cup Sugar
1 tbsp. Saffron dissolved in milk
1 tsp. Cardamom Powder
1 tsp. Rose Water
Silvered Pistachios for garnishing

Instructions

For Hung Yogurt–

Take a yogurt in a cheese cloth, gather all the ends and tie a knot on the top.
Hang it with the help of a twine with the kitchen tap or the banana stand.
Place a bowl under the yogurt.
Hang it for 5-8 hours.
Scoop the yogurt from the cloth and refrigerate it until needed.

Mango Shrikhand

Mix hung yogurt, mango pulp, sugar, saffron milk and cardamom.
Mix it until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
Chill it in refrigerator.
Serve with fresh mangoes garnished with silvered pistachios.