Boondhi

Boondhi - very tiny drops of besan flour, fried and soaked in sugar syrup.

Last week I saw hubby buying some gifts for me for the Valentine's day. I peeked into that bag after he started for office and there were very cute hair clips with glittering stones. They are the ones I used to give a glance in a nearby Indian grocery store and pass on without buying, just like a typical housewife:) I think he could have seen me watching them and adoring them:) Isn't it so sweet to get what we long for? I too wanted to make something special for him. Then I bought 2 beautiful Valentine's day themed tins from dollar stores and filled them with his favorite sweets like boondhi and badusha along with  almond kulfi ice cream. 

Here is the recipe for boondhi.

My simple gift to hubby:)

I have given the measures to make one cereal bowl full of boondhi. Increase the measures by seeing my laddo recipe:

Ingredients:

Besan flour(bengal gram flour / kadalai mavu)- 3/4 cup
(water for boondhi- almost half the flour)
sugar - 3/4 cup (if needed increase few more tsp)
water for syrup - 1/2 cup
baking soda - a pinch
turmeric powder / yellow food color - a pinch
oil - to deep fry

To garnish:

ghee - 1 tbsp
cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp
pachai karpuram (edible camphor) - a pinch
cashew - few
raisin - few

Special equipment needed:

A perforated vessel to make boondhis.
(If we are doing for a small batch, say 1 cup flour, then make holes on a disposable plate using a skewer. I have done this disposable home made boondhi making plate , before buying a traditional boondhi maker and it was very successful too.).

Sugar syrup:

Make a sugar syrup of 1 thread consistency. (Heat the sugar and water together till it starts boiling. After few seconds it will be sticky to touch). Switch off.

Preparing Boondhi:

Mix the baking soda, turmeric / food color with water and pour it into the four. Add water little by little, till it reaches a thick dosa batter consistency. The consistency should be so thick that, if we place a scoop of batter on the perforated plate, it should not run down easily (we have to press the drops in the oil).

Now add the oil/ ghee in a broad wok and start heating slowly, without reaching the fuming point. Keep in medium heat. Gently pour a ladle of batter over the boondhi making perforated bowl and press it to the hot oil. Don't crowd the oil. Fry for a few seconds only. The final product should be crispy.(My version calls for crispy boondhis. But if you want, you can make soft boondhis too). Immediately transfer them to the sugar syrup. Repeat and collect all the boondi in the syrup. Mix well.

Fry the cashew and raisins in ghee and add it to boondhi along with cardamom powder, edible camphor. If there is some excess syrup, gently heat the syrup so that the boondhi absorbs it and each droplet should stay separate. It should not crystallize.

Serving suggestions:

Makes a big bowl of boondhi.
Serve as snack or dessert in normal temperature.
Time taken - 20 minutes.