Super Sundays

It was 1995 and I had begged my dad for a costume tiara from Bombay Stores in Bradford all summer. He finally caved in after some heavy persuasion and a nice daal kachori pick up from Kaushy Patel’s Prashad. This was pre-Gordon Ramsay declaring it his Best Restaurant and long before it even became a dine-in restaurant. In those days, we would be treated to some Indian snacks from Bradford’s only vegetarian mithai shop one Sunday a month. Kaushy aunty would always sneak me Gulab Jamun freebies as I peered through the glass counter. She was always wore kajal around her eyes and a smile on her face.

After loading the car boot up with savoury snacks, mithai and fruit and veg from the abundantly-stocked Pakistani shop, Al-Halal, we’d head over to Bombay Stores.

My happy place

Passing through the doors of Bombay Stores like stepping into the set of a Bollywood movie. A labyrinth of colourful saris and lenghas, glass counters filled with glimmering costume jewellery, and Indian shoes as far as the eye could see. I’d have the “Bombay Stoooooores” jingle from Zee TV adverts playing on loop in my head. The lingering scent of Indian newspapers would follow you around like the mythological ghost, Betaal clinging to King Vikramaditya’s shoulders in Mahakavi Somdev Bhatt‘s Baital Pachisi. The smell of the newspaper ink came from the saris they were folded inside to keep the fabric straight and it permeated every fibre. I took long, deep breaths and revelled in anticipation of finally getting that tiara.

Post-tiara life

Playing dress-up was always the same after that day. My go-to persona was a princess. Finally, I was no longer “Little Diesel”, a wresting protégé my older brother had fashioned based on the infamous WWF (now WWE) character. Why? Because now I wore a tiara. I had arrived.

The first time I wore it outside the house was to the temple’s Diwali fancy dress.

One half of Radhe-Shyam

I dressed up as the gopi, Radha. In Hinduism, she is a milkmaid and dear consort of Lord Krishna. Decked out in an shiny aubergine-coloured skirt and top and my mum’s maroon lipstick, I felt like a million dollars. She gave me a faux beauty spot à la Cindy Crawford and painted my nails with her best bottle of Revlon nail polish.

I lost the fancy dress competition to my brother.

He was Shankar bhagwan (Mahadeva, an incarnation of Lord Shiva). He held a trident made of cardboard crisp boxes wrapped in tin foil and a large rubber snake around his neck. Mum did an amazing job on his costume. I was happy with second prize, a box of Milk Tray and my tiara still firmly on my head. Third prize went to my cousin who wore a long, grey school sock on his nose to resemble Lord Ganesha. It’s a day I’ll never forget.

Afterwards, we all filled up on dinner and mithai. The ones that appealed to my inner magpie were the ones covered in shiny silver leaf.

Much like these Pistachio Burfis, they had a delicious, milky fudge flavour and simply melted in your mouth. Here, I’ve recreated a version of the burfi I enjoyed when I was growing up. It has true pistachio flavours (not just food colour or pistachio essence) and of course, gold and silver leaf on top. Some things will never change.

Can I make Pistachio Burfi ahead of time?

Yes. Technically it lasts a week in the fridge so make it in advance and keep refrigerated. I’d recommend keeping it sealed in a container with a tight-fitting lid. Keep it away from anything strong smelling.

Do I have to use pistachio butter?

For this recipe, I recommend you do. It gives a perfectly-textured burfi with a delicious melt-in-the-mouth feel. Either order it online, find it in speciality food shops, or if you have a Vitamix-style blender, make your own. Ensure you are using a pistachio butter that is 100% pistachios, and with no added sugar.

Can I use any other nut butters?

As long as they smooth and mostly pure nuts. Any added ingredients may affect the texture of the burfi. If in doubt, always check the label. You’re looking for 100% nuts of your choice for the best results. I’ve tried it with almond butter, cashew butter and peanut butter, all with fantastic results.

How do I to cut burfi into perfect squares?

Always cut burfi at room temperature. Cutting it fridge cold could cause it to crumble and chip. Use a very large, very sharp knife to cut the burfi and wipe the blade clean after each cut to reduce crumbs and streaks.

Can I add any other masalas to this Pistachio Burfi?

Absolutely. If you like, you can add the ground seeds of 3-4 green cardamoms. I would not recommend adding saffron because it will significantly change the colour of this pistachio burfi. Saffron would however, be a great addition to cashew or almond butter burfi.

Is gold/silver leaf vegetarian?

Some methods of producing gold and silver leaf are not vegetarian friendly, due to the use of animal byproducts in the metal-beating process. However, there are many brands of vegetarian gold and silver leaf available. Check the packaging before using it if you’re concerned about this. I use these ones.

Do I have to use food colour?

Of course not. Keep the colours natural if you prefer. Without food colour, the burfi will be an off-olive/beige colour due to the combination of pistachio butter and caramelised sugar and milk powder.

Why do you use blue food colour?

The tiniest speck of blue colour will neutralise yellow hues from caramelisation one the burfi mixture, bringing it back to a natural pistachio shade. You can then add a touch of green to bump up the pistachio colour so it’s obvious what flavour the burfi is.

Can I use pistachio flavouring?

If you like it! I haven’t found one I love just yet as no artificial flavouring has given me the true pistachio flavour I get from 100% pistachio butter. However, if you have found one you enjoy the flavour of, there’s not reason why you can’t add it.

Can I melt chocolate on top of this Pistachio Burfi?

Absolutely. I’d recommend keeping it thin so it doesn’t overpower the pistachio flavour.

How to tell if burfi is cooked

The easiest and most accurate way of checking if the burfi is done is to use a sugar or food thermometer. Although, if you do not have one, there is another way of checking if it is ready. Before you start cooking, place a small plate in the fridge. It needs to be cold. Once you think the burfi mixture is done, place a small blob of the mixture onto the fridge-cold plate. Finally, allow to cool for a minute and if you can remove it from the plate easily and roll it into a ball between your fingers, it’s ready to pour into the tin. If it’s not ready, continue to cook and check again using a cold plate.

Why won’t my burfi set?

If the burfi will not set after coming down to room temperature (3-4 hours), it has not been cooked long enough. Return it to the pan and continue to cook, stirring all the time until it reaches soft ball stage.

Why is my burfi hard?

Hard burfi is an indicator that the mixture has been overcooked.

Ingredients you’ll need for Pistachio Burfi

• Full-fat milk powder
• Whole milk (or pistachio milk – I use this brand)
• Icing sugar (powdered/confectioners’ sugar)
• Ghee
• Pistachio butter (not ground pistachios). I use this brand.
• Any neutral oil
• Green and blue food colour (optional)
• Gold/silver leaf (optional – check labels to ensure they are suitable for vegetarians). I use this brand.
• Pistachio nibs or sliced pistachios, to decorate

Print

Pistachio Burfi

An easy recipe for melt-in-the-mouth Indian milk fudge (burfi) made with REAL PISTACHIO. Perfect for gifting. Your family and friends will love it!

Course Dessert

Cuisine Indian

Keyword burfi, festivals, fudge, mithai, pistachio

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 55 minutes minutes

Servings 14

Author Sanjana

Equipment

• 23 x 15 x 5cm (9″ x 6″) brownie tin or thali
• Large, non-stick pan
• Wooden spoon

Ingredients

• 500 g full-fat milk powder
• 250 ml whole milk or pistachio milk
• 100 g icing sugar
• 125 g ghee
• 2 tbsp pistachio butter
• 1 tsp any neutral oil don’t use ghee or butter
• Green and blue food colour optional
• Gold/silver leaf optional
• Slivered, chopped or crushed pistachios, to garnish optional

Instructions

• Grease a 23 x 15 x 5cm (9″ x 6″) tin with oil.
• In a large, nonstick pan, heat together the ghee and milk. Bring to a gentle simmer but do not boil. Turn the heat down to low.
• Once hot, add the milk powder and icing sugar. Beat with a wooden spoon until smooth. Any lumps will disappear as it cooks.
• Cook over a low heat until smooth and glossy, about 10 minutes. Stir all the time to ensure the mixture does not burn.
• Stir in the pistachio butter and continue to cook for a further minute. The burfi is done when it is glossy and reaches 118°C/235°F on a sugar thermometer. If you do not have a sugar thermometer, place a small amount of the mixture onto a very cold plate (keep one in the fridge) and if you are able to roll the mixture into a soft ball, it is ready.
• Remove from the heat and immediately stir in any food colours (if using). I used a combination of blue and green gel good colours to achieve a natural pistachio colour. A small amount of blue neutralises yellow tones from the caramelised milk powder for a more vivid pistachio hue. Food colour is optional. You do not have to add it if you don’t wish to.
• Pour the hot burfi mixture into the greased tin. Flatten the top down using the back of a spoon. Try to get the surface as even as possible. You can lightly grease the spoon with oil if it helps create a smooth surface. If you’re not using gold/silver leaf, you can press a small handful of crushed or slivered pistachios into the surface of the burfi at this stage.
• Allow to set at room temperature for 3-4 hours.
• Top with optional gold/silver leaf for an Indian mithai shop finish.
• Use a large, sharp knife to cut the burfi into pieces. I cut mine into 12 squares but you can cut these as small as 1cm x 1cm if you like. These tiny squares are perfect with coffee after dinner.

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If you like this Pistachio Burfi, you’ll love my Sweet Boondi recipe

Love Sanjana

The post Pistachio Burfi appeared first on Sanjana.Feasts.

Today is my 30th birthday and I’ve been sharing recipes here for 10 years. Can you believe it?! With each year, I’ve grown as a person, learning more about myself than I ever thought I would through a medium as lighthearted as a recipe blog. Exploring my cultural heritage through food has helped me get to grips with my own personal identity. With this I’ve understood and embraced what “home” really means to me. It’s where my family are; My husband, my son, my parents, my brother and sister-in-law, and their children, all sitting around a dinner table eating great food and just being… well, a family.

Many of you know that I was born in Britain, the daughter of immigrants with Indian and East African roots. I was raised as a vegetarian Hindu so the food I ate growing up was a mishmash of spices, starches, vegetables and pulses. Learning to cook from my mum and her haul of Gujarati and Swahili cookbooks was both a pleasure and a privilege. I’m so glad I was able to extract happiness from those things early on because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be able to share so many of my favourite recipes with you all today.

I feel honoured to be connected with so many fans and readers. Together we are a community of 60,000 people from around the world across social media, each of us passionate about vegetarian Indian and East African food. Whether it’s a comfort classic or a modern take on an old favourite, we all appreciate a plate of food cooked with love. I hope to continue to grow, learn, explore and share recipes with you for years to come.

Being an oversharer, you probably know a tonne about me, but for a bit of fun, here are a few things you may not have known…

1. I’ve never been to India, yet Indian food is one of my biggest passions in life.
2. I’m a pyjama-holic. I’d live in loungewear if I could. Don’t let styled food and good photography fool you. Developing recipes and spending a lot of time covered in flour means that fancy clothes are off the cards and comfy joggers and vest tops are the norm. After a hard day’s work I’ll have butter in my hair, icing sugar on my top and and a smile on my face. An Insta-perfect life doesn’t exist and in today’s world of social media overload it’s important we don’t measure ourselves against someone else’s online persona – most of it is make believe anyway!
3. I’m an avid and life-long wrestling fan. But we’ll leave that story for another day.

Now let’s eat Birthday Cake Burfi and celebrate this old gal’s 30th.

Print

Birthday Cake Burfi

Sweet condensed milk fudge with a hidden layer of birthday cake and sprinkles!

Course Dessert

Cuisine Indian

Keyword birthday, burfi, cake, fudge, indian sweets

Prep Time 40 minutes minutes

Total Time 40 minutes minutes

Servings 30

Author Sanjana

Ingredients

• 400 g full-fat milk powder
• 200 ml double cream
• 2 x 397g tins sweetened condensed milk
• 3 eggless birthday cupcakes not frosted (recipe is on the blog)
• 150 g white chocolate to decorate
• 2 tbsp sprinkles to decorate

Instructions

• Crumble up the birthday cake cupcakes with clean hands, making sure you have fine crumbs. Don’t use a food processor for this and ensure the cupcakes are have been allowed to cool completely. I like to make the cupcakes the day before so they’re completely cool and ready to crumble.

To make the burfi:

• Combine the milk powder, cream and condensed milk in a pan. Cook on a low heat, stirring all the time until the mixture starts exuding oil and begins to come away from the sides of the pan. If you have a sugar thermometer, the mixture should reach 116°C (this is known as the soft ball stage). Keep stirring to ensure the mixture doesn’t burn as it can catch quite easily. Don’t worry if you do not have a sugar thermometer. You can check it’s ready by first spreading a little mixture on a cold plate and if you can roll it into a soft ball between your thumb and finger, it’s ready. Time to work quickly!
• Remove from the heat and spread half of the mixture inside the greased brownie tin. Even the mixture out with the help of a spatula. Top with the birthday cake crumbs immediately, making the layer as even as possible. Top with the rest of the Burfi mixture and again, use a spatula to even it out. You need to make quick work of this to ensure the Burfi mixture is still hot when you’re spreading it. You don’t want it to start setting or it will be hard to work with.
• Melt the chocolate in a glass bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Ensure the bowl isn’t touching the water. Pour the chocolate over the Burfi layer and spread it out evenly. Scatter with sprinkles and allow to sit at room temperature until set, about 8 hours or preferably overnight. Slice into squares and serve.

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If you’ve ever stepped inside an Indian sweet shop you’ll be able to appreciate how much thought, heart and family history goes in to the spectacular arrangements of sweet stuff on display. Clue: the good ones almost always have the most tattered sign outside, as well as the longest queue to get in. Squares of milk fudge, diamond-shaped halwas and nut-studded pastry rolls adorned with warq (silver leaf) are majestic enough to transport you to the palaces of ancient India.

One of my favourite Indian sweets has to be Mohanthal – a rich, crunchy milk fudge made with chickpea flour, also known as besan. It’s traditonally spiced with cardamom, mace and saffron but here I’ve added a salted caramel twist because let’s be frank, who doesn’t love salted caramel?

Side note: there are plenty of varieties of vegetarian gold and silver leaf available now. I say this because there have been a tonne of internet rumours floating around claiming that all silver and gold leaf is made using non-veggie processes (I’ll spare you the details) but you don’t need me to tell you not to believe everything you read online, eh? If you’re not sure just ask in the shop. The good ones will show you the packaging from the one they use.

Mohanthal can be served in two ways: In pieces like the kind here, or loose as a lava-like liquid gold you scoop up with a spoon and nothing more. The liquid kind is is fondly known as Disco Mohanthal (which sounds just as fun as it is delicious). There’s a time and a place for both. I’ve set this Salted Caramel Mohanthal into crunchy fudge pieces but the addition of sweet caramel also means it is ridiculously good as bubbling Disco Mohanthal.

This is a pretty special recipe, guys. It’s a labour of love and is a very traditional way of making Mohanthal (no shortcuts with gum Arabic or goondh), the way a true Indian confectioner would make it – my only tweak is the addition of salted caramel. Don’t shy away because of the different steps. Indian sweet making is a beautiful, highly-specialised process which takes time and patience to master. Perseverance is key and once you’ve had a go and tasted your first batch, you’ll be hooked.

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Love Sanjana

The post Salted Caramel Mohanthal appeared first on Sanjana.Feasts.

In my family, I’ve been known as a burfi monster since I was a kid. I was gap toothed, chubby cheeked and all about the sweet stuff. My wonderful masi used to make sure she had a stash of chocolate burfi whenever I went to visit on special occasions – and still does to this day. And although I’ve learned to control myself over the years, I’ll always be its’ number one fan.

Diwali was always a special time in our home. It would warrant us going to Indian sweet shops to stock up on boxes of brightly-coloured treasures to share with family and friends. My dad’s heart is as big as my appetite so he always made sure we nabbed one of everything. There’d be rows and rows of burfi, penda, mohanthal, halwa, laddoo, gulab jambu, kaju katli, pista rolls, soan papdi and jalebi, in every colour under the sun – an Aladdin’s cave of milk-based sweets, topped with gold and silver leaf.

As they glimmered behind glass cases, I would stand there mesmerised by all the colours and textures. By the time dad had selected what would go in each box, he’d turn to me and ask what I like in my own special box of sweets. This was the moment I had been waiting for…

I’d choose coconut burfi, saffron penda, mawa penda, kaju katli, Bombay halwa – one pink and one green and of course, my beloved chocolate burfi. This still happens, BTW and it always takes me back to those happy times.

At home, I’d eat them as a mouse would eat a hamper of cheese – nibble a bit of each one, and then methodically determine the order in which I’d devour the sweets.

So what would you say if I told you that chocolate burfi + cookie dough had a party in my kitchen and things got pretty wild? Layers of cardamom burfi, classic chocolate chip cookie dough and milk chocolate combined to create the wickedest chocolate burfi you’ll ever experience. Make it for Diwali, make it for your birthday, make it for any random Wednesday if you want, I promise you’ll only ever want it this way from now on.

Fellow chocolate burfi monsters, I dedicate this one to you.

How to Make Cookie Dough Chocolate Burfi in the Microwave
Makes 24 pieces

Ingredients

For the burfi layer:
180g full-fat milk powder
1 x 397g tin sweetened condensed milk
Pinch of ground cardamom (seeds from about 3 pods, crushed)

For the cookie dough layer:
70g unsalted butter, softened
120g soft brown sugar
160g plain flour
¼ tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g milk chocolate chips
Pinch of fine salt

For the chocolate layer:
250g milk chocolate, melted and cooled slightly

Method

1. Grease a 6-inch long X 9-inch wide X 3-inch deep tin with groundnut or sunflower oil. Cut a piece of greaseproof paper to fit in the bottom of the tin to make the burfi easier to lift out later. You could also use a 6-inch round tin, just make sure it has high sides.

2. First, combine the milk powder and condensed milk in a large, microwave-safe bowl.

3. Microwave on high power for one minute, remove from the microwave and stir well. Return to the microwave and repeat three more times, so you’ve cooked it for four minutes in total, stirring every minute. Doing it in bursts like this will ensure the mixture doesn’t burn.

4. Add the ground cardamom and stir again before immediately spooning into the tin. Spread it out as evenly as you can and smooth it over. Press it in firmly to make sure your layers come out perfectly – you can use the base of a steel bowl or a cake smoother if you’re looking for very even layers. If it starts sticking, apply a little oil to whatever you’re using. Set aside and allow to cool.

5. To make the cookie dough layer, place the softened butter and sugar in a large bowl. Whip until fluffy and pale, about 3 minutes. Add the flour, baking powder and vanilla extract. Whip until it just comes together. Next, throw in the chocolate chips. Go in with your hands to gently bring it together and form a dough.

6. Place the cookie dough layer over the cooled burfi layer and repeat the smoothing over process as above. Try to get the layers even. Allow to cool.

7. Chop up the chocolate for the topping and place it in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave it on a medium heat in 30-second bursts until fully melted. Don’t stir it too much or the chocolate will seize. You want it to be shiny and perfect for pouring.

8. Pour the chocolate over the cookie dough layer, smoothing it out with the back of a spoon.

9. Allow to cool at room temperature for 30 minutes, and then refrigerate for at least 3 hours, or preferably overnight.

10, Run a knife around the edges of the tin and turn it out onto a board. This is where your greaseproof paper makes everything easier. Slice into pieces and devour. Decorate with gold lustre dust or leaf if you’re feeling fancy.

Love Sanjana

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