The King Of Desserts ‘Barfi’ Making In ‘Different Styles’ For All Times

‘KKuch Meetha Hojaye’ – this catch word jolts Indian taste buds always to get the best dessert or mithai in thier thali. Festival or no festival, you don’t need a special occasion to gorge on barfi! #KhabarLive tries to catch the pulse of makers of this exotic sweet dish.

Festivals in India acquire different hues for different people. But for most people, festivals mean a legit reason to binge of Indian sweets. While the festive platter of Indian sweets has a lot to offer, there’s no denying the comfort of a batch of barfi made at home. Blame its melt-in-the-mouth texture or its versatility, there’s something about this Indian sweet that makes it irresistible.

Typically made from condensed milk, cream and sugar, barfi is also called burfi or barfee (not to be confused with the Bollywood movie Barfi)! The popular Indian sweet dish gets its name from the Persian word ‘barf’ which means ‘snow’. We think it’s a perfect fit – don’t you think barfi looks quite similar to snow? Thanks to its white or creamy colour and the rectangle or diamond shape that barfi usually comes in. We share the barfi recipe along with some easy tips with you, which prove that making the barfi recipe at home is as easy as finding the perfect barfi at a store.

Getting started
While making barfi at home doesn’t call for much technical prowess, Home Chef Thakur Jaideep Singh from ‘Jai ki Rasoi Se‘ says making the barfi recipe does require patience. It may take some time for the barfi mixture to cook and then completely set, but the end result will be worth the wait. The home chef also suggests that you keep all the ingredients you’ll be needing to make your barfi recipe within arm’s reach before you get started. This helps to avoid any last minute hassles, giving you enough time to concentrate on your barfi recipe.

What you need to make the perfect barfi?
Jaideep says, “Measurements are extremely crucial while making a Indian sweet dish or mithai, so one must be careful with that.” This barfi recipe calls for about three-fourth cups of California walnuts, quarter cup milk, 250 gms khoya or mawa, a quarter cup of sugar, one tablespoon ghee, and a little extra for greasing, and half a teaspoon of cardamom powder.

For kitchen first-timers
For those who are new to cooking, Home Chef Thakur Jaideep Singh suggests using alternatives like milk powder instead of milk. This helps especially when you are short on time, without compromising on the flavour of your barfi. All you need to do is follow the same barfi recipe and simply substitute the 1/4 cup of milk with 4 tablespoons of milk powder.

Getting started on your barfi recipe:

1. Take 1/2 cup of walnuts in a bowl. To that, add 1/4 cup of milk and let the walnuts soak in it for about an hour.

2. Next, using a food processor or hand blender, blend into a coarse puree.

3. Heat one tablespoon of ghee in a pan and add the remaining 1/4 cup of walnuts. Sauté till golden, drain and set aside.

4. Now in the same ghee, add khoya and sugar and mix well. To this, add the walnut puree and mix again.

5. On a low flame, continue cooking the mixture till it gets thick and starts leaving the sides of the pan. Add in the cardamom powder and fried walnuts and mix well.

6. Spread this mixture on a greased plate and let it set for a few hours.

7. Once cool and set properly, slice your barfi into squares or diamonds and garnish with the remaining walnuts

Cooking Tips
Jaideep suggests always reducing the flame while adding in the sugar, so as to not burn the mixture. He also recommends greasing the tray well to avoid the barfi mixture from sticking. Make sure to follow storage techniques suitable to your consumption needs.

This particular Indian sweet dish has many varieties and you can make custom-made barfis by adding ingredients of your choice. For kaju barfi, all you need to do is add in a coarse ground cashew nuts paste or as a topping. For pista barfi, use coarse ground pistachios in it. For besan barfi, all you need to do is add some gram flour along with the rest of the ingredients. For fruit barfi, you could throw in finely-chopped pieces of dried fruits.

For coconut barfi, you could throw in some dried coconut flakes. For chocolate barfi all you need to do is be generous with those chocolate bars or simply top your barfi with a layer of milk chocolate.

While you cannot make your barfis entirely healthy, you could tweak your barfi recipe by reducing the amount of sugar and sneaking in veggies to increase the health quotient. Give this Rajma Burfi a try. You can also coat your barfis with vark, a thin layer of edible metallic leaf that’s either silver or gold in colour.

Vegan Barfi
Home Chef Thakur Jaideep Singh says, “For those looking out for vegan alternatives, simply substitute your milk with soy milk or coconut milk.” Substitute the ghee with vegan unsalted butter or simply use margarine. If you’d like to get a bit more experimental, Gorai suggests throwing in some berries, apricots or prunes for an added flavour and texture.

Storing Barfi
You can store your barfi in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 10 days, suggests Chef. If you want to skip on the refrigeration, make sure that you are generous on the ghee as it will allow your barfi to stay good at normal temperature for up to 3 to 4 days.

Home Chef’s Culinary Tricks
Jai Ki Rasoi Se is the brain child of Home Chef Thakur Jaideep Singh and name given to his home kitchen. Cooking has been his passion since his college days and has been inherited from his grandmother and mother.

‘Being a passionate home chef all my dishes and recipes were appreciated by my family members, colleagues, friends and relatives, due to which I got inspired and decided to showcase my culinary skills through “Jai Ki Rasoi Se” a cookery page which took birth in December 2015 through Facebook and as on date has 1800+ followers across the country and overseas’ he reveals to #KhabarLive in an interview.

Rajma is one of the most common ingredients found in most of North Indian families if you are from the states of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh Punjab or Haryana. Rajma Chawal is the staple food which is made in the form of a semi-thick gravy and served with hot steamed or jeera rice or even Indian breads like roti, chapati, phulka or Naan

It is not uncommon to have a sweet tooth, it’s a human nature to taste sweetness in the form of chocolate, juices, dessert etc. Due to COVID-19 we are unable relish these delicacies and hence a unique dessert “Rajma Ki Barfi” has been churned out from “Jai Ki Rasoi Se” to make you feel happy and enjoy in this forced pandemic crisis time.

Category – Dessert
Preparation Time – 8 Hrs
Cooking Time – 60 minutes
Serves – 6 to 8 persons

Ingredients
– Boiled Kidney Beans – 100 Grams
– Castor Sugar – 100 Grams
– Milk Powder – 100 Grams
– Milk Khoya – 100 Grams
– Pure Ghee – 100 Grams
– Pure Milk – 125 ML
– Semolina (Suji) – 50 Grams
– Cardamom Powder – ½ Tea Spoon
– Almonds – 10 to 15
– Cashew Nuts – 10 to 15
– Pistachio – 10 to 15
– Silver Sheet for garnishing

Procedure
Soak kidney beans overnight and boil it in a pressure cooker till you get 4 to 5 whistles. Set it aside to get cooled and allow the pressure to get released automatically.

Drain the water from the boiled kidney beans and add it in a mixer grinder to make a fine paste. Keep it aside.

Heat pure ghee in a non-stick pan or kadai. Once it is hot, add the kidney beans paste, mix and cook till rawness is completely removed from it.

Now add semolina and cook till it become golden brown.

At this stage add milk powder & milk solid and mix them, by continuous sttirring and cook it till ghee gets separated.

Add milk and mix it. Stir and cook till the semolina become soft.

Now add the castor sugar and mix it. Cook it till the ghee gets separated from the semolina and becomes a lump.

Finally add grated almonds, pistachio, cashew nuts and cardamom powder. Mix all and cook for another 2 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Grease a plate and spread the lump evenly. Garnish it with silver coating and set it aside to cool. With the help of a knife cut it into square or diamond shapes as per your requirement.

Serve by garnishing with finely chopped almonds and cashew nuts.

Lastly, the CHEF’S Tip to present the dish with extra glow and tricks to tinkle the taste buds: Ensure the quality of Rajma is good. For better results soak it over night by adding a pinch of baking soda. #KhabarLive #hydnews