Khoya Burfi | Easy Diwali Sweets

After the vacation trip, getting back to normal is becoming emotional for me. And the dipping mercury levels is an added reason. I so wish that I am always with family. I know that this is just an aftermath of meeting friends and family and things are gonna be just like before as days pass by but I just can't get that clinging feel of loneliness out of my mind. In fact I have been diverting myself with shopping. Yeah, I have been winter shopping, prop shopping and bakeware shopping.

Yesterday I went to Walmart and I grabbed a mini angel food cake pan, a doughnut cutter and some Christmas cookie cutters and I have no idea when I am gonna use it. And today I have been rummaging through the bin to get hold of that receipt so that I can return it. To put things in short, I think I am out of my mind and am out-of-the-world lonely. Well, hope things change soon cos I think I am driving the huss a teeny-weeny bit crazy too.

Coming to today's recipe, remember the homemade khoya that I posted last week. This is what I made with the khoya, khoya burfi. Its sweet, its fudgy and its an easy sweet that could be made for Diwali, and super easy if you buy khoya from the store or follow shortcuts to make khoya at home (which I will share soon). As for the texture, it was just like store bought, a bit crumbly. BTW I didn't add curd to get that texture, my khoya didn't dissolve completely and that must be the reason. As for why my khoya didn't dissolve, I think I made it too dry and crumbly. But thanks be to that cos we love our burfis to be crumbly and not too smooth. But if you are a fan of smooth burfis then do not make your khoya too dry.

Prep Time: 5 mins; Cooking time: 15 mins; Makes - 7-8 pieces ~*What U Need*~ Khoya - 1 cup Sugar - 1 cup Cardamom seeds - 1/8 tsp, crushed Milk - 2 tbsp Ghee - to grease Cashews/pistachios - to garnish How I Made it: Crumble the khoya, sugar and milk in a non-stick pan. In medium flame, mix well to dissolve. Now add the crushed cardamom seeds and keep mixing till it forms a mass and leaves the pan without sticking. Grease a pan with ghee, pour the mixture into the pan and level with a greased spatula. Allow to cool and cut into desired shapes. Garnish with pistachios or cashews.

Serve with love!!!

** My Notes:
** You could add saffron soaked in milk to get kesar burfi.
** My khoya was dry and crumbly and so the khoya did not dissolve properly. If so don't panic, just go ahead in the process. You will get burfis just like the ones you get from stores, fudgy and crumbly.
** Cook the khoya till it leaves no trial of water when swirling around the pan. If you feel that it has some water content, then return to the pan, heat for some more time and then make pieces.
** Keep refrigerated but always serve at room temperature.

So thats it Folks...
With Love,

Signs off!!!

Interested!!! Click to read more...

Homemade Khoya/Mawa/Kova | How to

I am back after an awesome weekend trip to see my brother. Yes the huss took a day off and we planned a trip to SFO away from the dipping WI temperatures. It was chilly there too but good chilly. The chillness cleared off by the noon and then we would pack off to tour the city. I loved the place, it was buzzing with people, filled with awesome food and you have Gucci, Vera Wang and Ghiradelli. I was merely ogling at all the high-end shops in Union Square for 2 hours. And then my brother whisked us away to the Whaft were I could do some actual shopping. I bought fridge magnets, loads of chocolates and even an artisan sourdough bread at the Boudin bakery which I travel-packed and bought it all the way to WI. We made sandwiches for our dinner yesterday night and I still have some leftovers(BTW its gonna be PB&J on sourdough for breakfast tomorrow). In short, we hanged out, we chilled out, we ate out and we talked a lot. It was quality time with my brother after 4 long years and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Now that we are back, life is slowly moving back to normal(...but mentally I am not). There are loads of winter-shopping to be done and all I have is a carton of milk that I saved before the vacation. I so have to go grocery shopping if I need to put lunch on our plates tomorrow. I wanted to take a break from blogging too cos this weekend is going to be pretty busy too. The huss's friend is coming over to stay with us for the weekend and u know how it is gonna be. And then when I sat down to while away, my mind was buzzing with thoughts and the only way that I could relax seemed to be blogging and so I started going through my drafts.

Since it is Diwali time, I thought that I could share this simple 'how to' to break the blogging lag. I made this Khoya before the SFO trip and then I made Khoya burfi the next day. It was super delicious filled with the flavor of fresh cardamom and just like the store bought ones. All the labor and patience that went into making this 1 cup of khoya was worth everything cos the burfi was fresh filled with homemade goodness. As I said making khoya needs 100% attention and patience and not leaving the pan side even for a minute but nothing can beat the freshness of anything homemade. Off we go to the step by step tutorial.

Prep Time: 0 mins; Cooking time: 30-45 mins; Makes: 1 cup ~*What U Need*~ Full fat whole milk - 4 cups/ 1 litre How I Made it: Take a heavy bottomed wide vessel or a non stick pan. Bring the milk to a boil. Once the milk boils, reduce the flame to medium and cook till it thickens. Scrap the sides at times. When the milk thickens, reduce the flame to low. Keep stirring until the milk completely thickens and forms khoya. Remove it from the flame, allow to cool and store.

Store in an airtight container.

** My Notes:
** Use full fat milk to get a better result.
** Khoya thickens as it cools.
** Keep scraping down the sides frequently.
** You can remove the khoya from the flame depending on how much moisture content you need.

So thats it Folks...
With Love,

Signs off!!!

Interested!!! Click to read more...

Gujia / Gujiya | S/S recipe

Gujia has always been one of my favorite sweets. The crunchy shell and the sweet grainy texture of the filling together make an awesome combination. And wat else would I crave to have in this period.

Gujiyas are traditionally made for holi and the way in which it is made depends from region to region. Some ppl dust icing sugar on top and some dip them in sugar syrup just as you do with jalebis. I find these variations overly sweet and hence skipped it. In the northern parts, the filling is made with sweetened khoya + dry fruits + nuts, while in the south side a combination of dry shredded coconut + nuts + jaggery / sugar is used. I went by the former.

~*~*What U Need*~
For the outer pooris/shell
Maida/all purpose flour – 1 cup
Ghee – 1 tbsp
Baking soda – a pinch
Salt – a pinch
Powdered sugar – 1 tbsp (optional)
Oil - for frying

For the stuffing
Powdered sugar – ½ cup
Chopped cashews, pista and raisin – 3 tbsp
Cardamom powder – 1/8 tsp
Roasted sooji – 3 tbsp
Khoya/,mava - 1/2 cup
Milk powder – 1 tbsp
Dry / Grated coconut – 1 tbsp (optional)
Ghee – 2 tbsp

How I Made it:
Combine the flour with the ingredients mentioned in the shell section. Knead adding water as needed and make a soft dough out of it and knead it lightly. Cover with a damp cloth and leave aside for half an hour. Adding sugar will make the crust sweet and this is purely optional. In a frying pan, add ghee and fry the cashews, pista and raisins till golden brown. Remove from the ghee. Fry the sooji in the same ghee till golden brown followed by the grated coconut. If using dry coconut ignore this step. Now mix the sugar, nuts mixture, sooji, koya, milk powder, cardamom powder, grated & roasted coconut and mix well. Set aside.
Pinch equal amount of balls out of the kneaded dough and form small pooris as shown below.
Place small balls of the sweet mixture inside the dough.
Fold it to one side and seal the edges with bit water, firm the edges using your fingers and press the edges with a fork or u can use a gujia mold which is available in stores
On slow fire, deep fry this gujia till golden brown. Don’t fry in high heat or the gujiya crust will be soft and not crispy.
Drain oil and leave to cool.
Enjoy this delicacy.
I have added a gif tutorial on how to make the gujias... Hope u find it useful..

Click on the image to watch the sequence

Interested!!! Click to read more...