Basundi recipe is an Indian dessert popular in Maharashtra and Gujarat. It is a calorie rich, scrumptious dessert prepared by simmering the milk for a long time until it reduced to half of its volume, finally flavored with saffron, almonds and pistachios. This is one of my top favorite sweet. I used to eat a lot in my college days as my father used to get me kesar basundi every week from Agarwal sweets. My husband has not tasted it before so I made this easy and tasty basundi recipe  for diwali. Addition of almonds and pistachios to basundi recipe adds a nice crunch to this creamy dessert. Saffron imparts color and flavor to the dish. When you make basundi , always scrap the sides of vessel while cooking, as that will make the basundi thick and imparts creamy texture. It is served as a dessert or sweet accompaniment in lunch or during any Indian festivals like diwali. Also it tastes great with gulab jamun or hot malpuas.

Ingredients

3 Cups of Milk (2 % or Full Fat)
3-4 Tbsp of White Sugar
20 Saffron Strands
10 Almonds, Chopped
10 Cashews, Chopped
10 Pistachios, Chopped
Pinch Of Nutmeg Powder
3 Cardamom, Powdered
1 Tsp of Ghee (Melted Butter), Optional

    To Garnish

Method   

• Chop the almonds, cashews and pistachios . Powder the cardamom with mortar and pestle.
• Soak the saffron in 2 tsp of warm milk and keep this aside.
• Take a heavy bottomed vessel, add the milk, bring the milk to boil and reduce the flame, cook on the slow flame, till the volume is reduced to half of its volume. Keep on stirring and continuously scrap the sides and bottom of the pan, otherwise the milk would get stick to the bottom.
• Once the milk reduced to half of its volume, this would take 30 mins,  add all the chopped nuts(almonds, cashews and pistachios), nutmeg powder, cardamom powder and saffron cook this for another 15-20 mins in a slow flame, keep on stirring, otherwise you would get burnt flavor.
• After the milk thickened and got a nice flaky layer of cream on top, add sugar and mix well, cook for another 10 mins and turn off the flame.
• Serve warm or chilled garnished with almonds and pistachios .
• I love chilled basundi as it tastes divine and it thickens more when it is chilled.

Tips

• Adjust the amount of sugar according to your taste.
• You can also use evaporated or condensed milk in place of full cream or 2% milk.
• You can also make flavored basundi by the addition of strawberry or oranges after step 3, to make strawberry basundi or orange basundi respectively.
• Addition of nutmeg powder is for easy digestion.
• If you use condensed milk or evaporated milk, do not add sugar to it.
• Addition of saffron gives a nice color and flavor.
• Always use heavy bottomed pan to make it otherwise milk will burn and stick to the pan.
• When you keep basundi in fridge, make sure the consistency is thin and otherwise it would turn thick on next day.                   

Coconut Burfi / thengai burfi (Burfee / Barfi ) is a sweet confectionery from India and it is made with coconut, sugar, ghee and nuts. It is my brother’s favorite sweet and my mother makes this burfi at home for every Diwali. But the process of making coconut burfi slightly differs from one home to other home. In my sister in law’s home, they add rose essence to burfi and in one of my friend’s home, they add saffron to it. But I love to eat it plain without any flavors in it. This easy to make traditional diwali sweet can be made with very less ingredients. They are so moist, chewy and in every bite, you can feel the burst of coconut juice and ghee flavors . Even beginner can make this coconut burfi for diwali without any difficulty. Try this coconut fudge or nariyal barfi in your home and let me know how it turned out.

    Ingredients

1 Cup of Fresh Coconut
1 Cup of White Sugar
1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp of Water
1 Pinch of Cardamom Powder
1 Tbsp of Ghee (Melted Butter)
10 Roasted Cashews, Chopped
7 Roasted Almonds

Method

• Grind the coconut in a mixie without adding water, to get a fine powder but little coarse .
• Grease the tray with ghee and keep it aside.
• Take a wide bottomed non stick pan, add sugar and water, mix well until the sugar dissolves completely and starts bubbling as seen in the picture.

• Keep stirring, until you get a single string consistency. This can be examined by taking a drop of syrup between index finger and thumb as you see in the picture. Once you get the single strand consistency, add the coconut, mix well with sugar syrup.

• Keep on stirring until you get bubbles at the edges, now add the ghee, followed by the addition of cashews and cardamom powder, mix well. Again keep stirring until the coconut mixture thickens and starts coming off from the sides of the pan. Now turn it off the flame.

• Pour immediately to the greased tray, after 20 mins, cut into squares or any desired shape.

•   Cool completely and store it in an airtight container.

Tips

• Single strand consistency is most important. So always keep an eye on it while stirring.
• If you don’t get roasted cashews, roast the raw cashews in a tsp of ghee and add it to the coconut mixture.
• Don’t use dry dessicated coconut to make this burfi, it won’t taste good as fresh coconut burfi.
• You can use any nuts of your choice to this burfi.
• Always cook the whole process in medium flame.
• Adjust the amount of sugar according to your taste.
• While scraping the coconut don’t use the brown part of coconut.
• You can also roast the coconut in ghee before adding it to the sugar syrup.
• If you want colored burfis, add saffron or edible color like orange or green or both.

Health Benefits of Coconut

• Quick energy boost.
• High in dietary fiber.
• Improves heart health.
• It has anti-bacterial,anti-fungal & anti-parasitic properties.
• Coconut oil can improve blood cholesterol level, boosts brain function.