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.

Badusha

Happy Valentine's day to all my readers, friends and family!

Here is a sweet to celebrate the Valentine's day. I made it for my hubby as a home made gift, as it is one of his most favorite sweets. It came out very well just like the store bought. 

Recipe Source - An article called 'Kalyana Virundhu 64' by Mr.Subham Ganesan in Mangayar malar magazine, Feb 2012 edition.

Ingredients:

Maida / All purpose flour - 2 cup
curd - 1/4 cup 
butter - 100 gm (1/2 cup)
cardamom powder - 1 tsp
baking soda, baking powder - 1/2 tsp each.
sugar - 2 cup
water - 1 1/2 cup
oil - 250 ml (to deep fry)
rose essence - 2 drops

To garnish:

coconut flakes or almond or saffron.
lime - 1/8 of a fruit

Method:

Whisk the butter or dalda with baking soda and baking powder , curd till it blends well and slightly frothy.
(Don't use more baking soda / powder).
Sprinkle the maida  little by little and mix well. The maida will look like crumbs now.
(I add 2 drops of rose essence in the dough or sugar syrup to get more flavor).
Add cool water (few tbsp ) little by little to get a loose chapathi dough.
Knead it like a kiddish crumbs dough. It should not be like firm chapati dough. Let it rest for 20 mins.

Divide it into 18 small balls. Flatten it to a 1/4 inch thick, 3 inch diameter discs. Make a slight indent with the thumb.   This is the shape of badusha. Make all of them and keep aside.

Heat the oil and test fry one disc. Keep the heat in low and fry it till all the bubbles stop. It may take nearly 5 minutes. take it out and check if it is almost cooked till the center. If broken, it should look flaky. It may be very slightly soft in the center, but it will taste fine after soaking in syrup. This is the perfectly fried badusha.

Just like that prepare 5 badushas at a time and fry them as told.

In the same time prepare the sugar syrup. Heat the water and sugar together to get a one thread syrup. It should be sticky to touch and should not crystallize. Squeeze the lime over it to prevent crystallization. Switch off!

Put the fried hot badhusha in to the sugar syrup and let it soak for 10 minutes. Take out and place in a tray. After soaking and arranging all the badushas, pour the excess sugar syrup over it (optional).
Decorate with colored coconut flakes or almond slivers.

Badusha is ready!

Serving suggestion:

Makes nearly 750 gms of badusha (18 - 20 small pieces).
Serve as snack / dessert.
Great for home made gifts.

St.Valentine's day:
In USA, the St.Valentine's day is celebrated to express the love and affection towards our family, friends, pets, society and especially for the our spouse or sweet heart. Click to read more. St.Valentine was a Christian saint who was said to have helped the lovers getting married.Red color dress was the code word for those wishing to get married and St.Valentine took great steps to unite those lovers in holy matrimony. Red rose and red colored objects are popular during this season. The second Sunday of February is celebrated as World Marriage day in Churches. Celebrating the sacrament of marriage, importance of love, understanding between couples are emphasized by the church on these days.

I made this boonthi for hubby...homemade Valentines day gift. Chocolates from him:)

Hairclips and scented candles from hubby dear.

Gifts from Xav. Happy Valentines day always!

Badam Halwa

Happy Deepavali to all my readers and friends! Hope many are busy preparing Diwali snacks. Here is a recipe from my kitchen for your family.

Badam - Almond ; Halwa - fudge.

Batham halwa is a popular dessert of India. Till our good friend Mr.Kannan and family gave us a box of this Badam halwa, I never knew if it is my hubby's most favorite. Thank you friends! I have always ventured into typical South Indian desserts for festivals, but the way Xav enjoyed this almond halwa, scoop by scoop....made me try immediately:) Basically it is a one line recipe with just soaking, grinding and stirring....but involves some essential tips too. I got the recipe from this website and it was so simple and impeccable. Visit her and you will be definitely tempted by that big tray of Almond halwa. Thank you Chithramma!

Home made Badam halwa.

Ingredients:

Almond - 1 cup
milk - 1 cup
ghee - 1 cup
sugar - 1 cup
saffron - few strands
cardamom - 4

Essential Tools:

Thick bottom broad wok
a long handled stirring spatula.
hand gloves - a pair

Method:

Soak almond in water overnight and peel them (or) put them in boiling water and keep till its skin wrinkles. Then add cold water and peel them.
Grind the almonds to a paste using milk. It should be coarse like idly batter, so that we get a nice almond texture afterwards.
Put 1/2 cup ghee, ground almond and cook in a wok for few minutes. Then add the remaining ghee and sugar and stir continuously at medium heat.
Now we will see bubbles (approximately after 10 minutes), reduce the flame and stir carefully. Hand gloves is a must to remain safe at this stage.
After 5 minutes the bubbles will subdue and the halwa will start leaving the edges and ghee starts showing up.
Add the cardamom powder and saffron. Mix well.
(Yellow food color 1 drop can be added if we need more color.But that won't be essential).
Switch off and carefully transfer to a ghee coated ornamental vessel.
Total cooking time 20 minutes.

Serving suggestions:

Serve hot as dessert.



Happy Deepavali!