Badhusha - Soft and Flaky

Badhushas are very famous Indian sweets and is my favourite too. It is a soft, flaky and layered sweet. I love them very much and can't resist them. They are mildly sweet. I make them for every Diwali since last 4 years and nowadays more often.  It is made using maida dough which is fried in ghee and then dipped in sugar syrup and dried.  The perfecion of the Badhusha is obtained when you get a very soft and a very flaky Badhusha.  Believe me it is not at all difficult to make these delicious sweet. The thing is that you have to be very exact in your measurements and the method to the "T". I found the original recipe here in Raks Kitchen. And it is a never let down recipe. Sowmya of Nivedhanams is hosting the Tried & Tasted event this month. And Raks Kitchen is the blog being tried and tasted. So I wanted to take this opportunity to thank Rajee for this wonderful recipe.

Ingredients

For the Badhusha

Maida - 3 cups
Butter - 1/2 cup
Oil - 1/4 cup
Sugar - 1 t.sp
Curd - 3 t.sp
Cooking Soda / Sodium Bi Carbonate - 3  pinches (1/2 t.sp)
Water - 1/2 cup (approx.)
Oil - for deep frying

For the Syrup

Sugar - 1 cup
Water - just to immerse the sugar
Elaichi - 2 pinches (optional)
Saffron - a pinch (Optional)
Lemon Juice - 1 t.sp

Method

 Melt butter in a pan.








Add oil






Add sugar, curd and sodium-bi-carbonate to it.






Use a whisk and mix it well. Make it almost frothy.







Add the flour to it.

Mix well to make it crumbly.




Add water to make it in the form of a dough.  Be careful while adding water, about 1/4th cup of water is enough, add water little by little form it into a smooth dough.



Keep kneading for another 10 minutes to get smooth shiny, soft and pliable dough.  Knead till you get the smooth texture. Do not cut short this process.



Make small lemon sized balls of equal size.  Now take a ball and keep on pinching the edges and folding it inwards. And go on doing this in a round fashion. So that you get the beautifully decorated rims.

Otherwise just flatten the smooth ball a little between your palms and press in the center with your finger, to form a small depression.  But I never do this, I always like doing the decorated rim. Finish all shaping all the balls and keep them covered.






Meanwhile add sugar to a pan and just add water to immerse it.  Stri till the sugar dissolves and starts boiling.  At this point add about a tb.sp of Milk.  This helps in removing the impurities in the sugar.


Then boil the sugar solution to reach one string consistency.  That is if you pour it in little water it should not dissolve and should form a fine thread.  Put off the flame once the right consistency is achieved.  Add saffron if desired and then add the juice from the lemon. Add powdered Elaichi if needed. I mostly don't add elaichi to Badhushas.




Heat oil in a kadai.  Check whether the oil has heated up well. To do this add a pinch of batter into the oil, if it rises immediately, then its ok.  Do not let the oil heat up too much.




Add some 4 to 5 badushas depending upon the size of the kadai, into the oil.  Put off the fire or remove from fire and let them cooked in this pre-heated oil.


After sometime (about 5 minutes) the Badushas will start floating, then again keep the kadai on fire and cook on medium-low flame till the badhushas turn into beautiful golden colour.

Remove them into a strainer and let the excess oil drain off for about a minute. Then put these hot badhushas in the sugar syrup.  If they don't get fully soaked inside the sugar syrup then pour some syrup over the badhushas with the help of a ladle. Let them remain there for about 3 to 4 minutes.  Till then you can prepare the next set of badhushas.

Transfer the badhushas from the syrup to a plate or to an aluminium foil. Place it one by one. And not, one top of the other.  Let it dry for sometime. Once it dries then it becomes non-sticky.  Transfer it to a clean container. I personally like to eat it after some hours, or better the next day. So that the badhushas soak the syrup inside them and then they taste sweet from inside too.

Sending these delicious, soft and flaky Badhushas to Sowmya of Nivedhanams who is hosting Tried and Tasted this month.  

Dear Friends, I am also looking for future hosts for Tried and Tasted Event. Interested Bloggers please contact me at venkateshlakshmi7(at)gmail(dot)com. For further details about the event and host list on Tried and Tasted, see here.

Manasi of A Cook @ Heart is holding a event called "I Must Make That" and she also has a giveaway. And after seeing her announcement I realized that the CupoNationIndia is catching up faster. And so sending this entry to her.

Sending this to Sumee's culinary Bites where she is hosting Bon Vivant - Quixotic Fixes.

and to the Sweet Luv - CJ#4 hosted by Cooks Joy

Kaju Katli

Kaju Katli, is basically a North Indian sweet, but now popular throughout India. There is no sweet shop in India which does not keep Kaju Katli.  Kaju Katli is like a sort of burfi made using Kajus i.e. Cashewnuts.  My children luv them a lot whenever I used to buy it for some guests I used to get one for them also a small box, otherwise they will not allow me to gift it.  But again Kaju Katli is one of the most expensive sweets in the shop, so I wanted to find out a way to make it at home so that it is not so expensive and at the same time more good than the store bought ones. 

So then I found out a recipe at last which gives the same texture and taste like the store bought ones. My children loved them, I never got a chance to photograph it, though I have been making them for years now.  This recipe I got from Raks Kitchen.  So I thought of posting it now, since this month its Raks Kitchen who is being "Tried and Tasted". It is a sure shot recipe and a never let down recipe. So go ahead and try it.

Making Kaju Katli is very simple, infact the simplest of most of the sweets. And gets ready in very less time and does not involve laborious work.  So ahead and make these Kaju Katlis in your kitchen itself, rather than buying it from the shop. The total cooking time is just about 10 to 15 minutes, depending upon the quantity of the Cashews. The ingredients are very very minimal just Cashews and Sugar, thats it nothing else.

Ingredients

Kaju (Cashews) powered - 3 cups
Sugar - 1 & 1/2 cup
Ghee - for greasing your hands

Method

Powder the Cashews in a dry mixer.  Grind it to a smooth powder at a stretch and not at intervals. Do not keep it coarse.  If during the process of fine grinding, the cashew powder sticks to the wall of the mixer it is ok.

In a non-stick pan put in the sugar and add just enough water, so that the sugar gets immersed in it. Boil it.  The sugar gets dissolved and then starts forming a thick syrup.  Keep a small bowl of water nearby to check for the consistency of the sugar syrup.





The sugar syrup should be 1 string consistency or when you pour a little sugar syrup in the bowl of water it should stay in the water and should not get dissolved.



At this stage add the cashew powder and keep stirring. Slowly the mixture starts boiling and thickening.  Switch of the flame. To test whether it is ready for the Katlis, wet your fingers with water, pinch a small piece of the dough and try to roll it between yours fingers. If you are able to roll a ball without getting your fingers sticky, then it is done. If you feel its not done then put on the stove again and start stirring.




When it is done, put off the stove and still keep stirring in the same pan itself, till the mixture forms like a dough.  Then when it is still warm transfer it to a working board and clean working platform and start kneading the dough.




At this stage the dough will have a grainy texture. Smear your hands with ghee and keep on kneading till you get a smooth dough.

Roll the dough into a thin layer and cut it diagonally.  First just draw the lines ligthly on the dough with the knife and then cut it. This helps you in getting even size pieces.

I used about 3 cups of the powder and it gave me about 40 to 45 whole pieces.  So I said making Kaju Katlis at home is very easy and light on our pockets too.

Note :
Try to choose good quality Cashews. It creates a lot of difference in the taste and texture.

Never use the cashews directly from the fridge or freezer. Bring it to room temperature and then grind it.

The consistency of the sugar is very important, if it doesn't reach the right consistency then the dough will remain sticky.

If the consistency of the sugar has more farther than the one string consistency then add some water let it reach again the required consistency.

After transferring to the counter keep on kneading and kneading till you reach smooth textured dough.

Sending this Kaju Katlis to Sowmya of Nivedhanams who is hosting Tried and Tasted this month.  Dear Friends, I am also looking for future hosts for Tried and Tasted Event. Interested Bloggers please contact me at venkateshlakshmi7(at)gmail(dot)com. For further details about the event and host list on Tried and Tasted, see here.

Manasi of A Cook @ Heart is holding a event called "I Must Make That" and she also has a giveaway. And after seeing her announcement I realized that the CupoNationIndia is catching up faster. And so sending this entry to her.

Sending this to Sumee's culinary Bites where she is hosting Bon Vivant - Quixotic Fixes.

and to the Sweet Luv - CJ#4 hosted by Cooks Joy

Rajasthani Ghevar with Kesar Rabdi

It was Divya of You too Can Cook Indian Food who is the hosting the South North Challenge (SNC).  And in SNC this month the South Team was challenged to prepare the Rajasthani Ghevar with Rabdi.  I think I am the last in the group to post it.

The recipe for Rajasthani Mini Ghevar is from Desi Fiesta.  She has given a detailed instruction on how to cook the Ghevars.  There is also a nice video by Nisha Madhulika on how to cook Ghevars which will be helpful.

And so here is my Rajasthani Ghevar with Kesar Radi.  It was very tasty and delicious. I want to put down the recipe on my own but for now please refer to DesiFiesta for the recipe.

Also sending it to the Sweet Luv - CJ#4 hosted by Cooks Joy

Mysorepak

Mysorepak is a traditional south indian sweet which has a porous and melt in the mouth texture. It is made using a generous amount of Ghee. It has just three ingredients and takes just about 20 to 30 minutes to prepare it. The traditional Mysorepak has three beautiful layers, the top and bottom layers are light brown in colour and the middle layer is little dark brown.

The beauty of Mysorepak is that even after we have poured it in the greased plate its cooking process in not over. Because of the heat which gets trapped inside it the cooking process continues. Many a times people face lot of problems with the preparation of this traditional sweet. Its just that the art of making it has to be perfected.  Here I have tried to explain the procedure as far as possible.  For making a perfect Mysorepak first you will have to perfect the art of sugar syrup and its stages.  Thats it and life becomes easy as far as Mysorepak is concerned. And please try to use a non-stick pan as far as possible.

The tamil version for this recipe is here in my other blog Classic Chettinad Kitchen.

Ingredients

Gramflour (Besan) - 1 cup
Ghee - 1 + 1/4 cup
Sugar - 1 1/2 cup
Water - 1/4 cup
Milk - 1 tb.sp

Method

1. Sift the gramflour so that it becomes free of lumps.
2. Grease a tray and keep it ready.
3. Heat 1/4 cup ghee in a non-stick pan. Heat just till the ghee melts and the gramflour and roast till you get a nice aroma. Roast it on medium or low heat.
4. Add sugar in a non-stick pan and add water till it just covers the sugar. Maybe about 1/4 cup or little less should be enough here.
5. Heat it over medium heat till the sugar dissolves. 
6. Side by side heat ghee in another vessel in low heat.
7. Add the milk to the sugar syrup and allow the scum to surface up, remove it with a help of a ladle. Reduce the heat and make a sugar syrup of one string consistency. Here is a nice post on stages of sugar syrup written by Chitra of Ratatouille - Anyone can Cook, which will be very useful here.
8. At this stage add the roasted flour and keep stirring, do not stop stirring or distract your attention from the pan.
9. Once the flour gets incorporated well with the sugar syrup add 1 the ghee one ladle at a time.
10. Every time you add the hot ghee it will become frothy and go back to its normal stage again. 
11. In the whole process never stop stirring.
12. When you are finished with the last ladle of ghee. Keep stirring, it will become frothy and set back. Again after a few seconds it will froth again and move around in a single mass. It will also slightly start changing its colour. This is the right stage you have to pour it in the greased tray.
13. Smooth the surface without pressing it to hard, because this is the time when the air bubbles form in between to make it porous, so don't press it too hard. 
14. If you like sprinkle some sugar crystals on top and cut it into pieces.
15. Don't remove them from the tray at this stage, let it cool down and then remove it from the tray and serve. 

Points to remember

• Very important point to remember is that once you start with the process do not divert your attention till you are finished with it.
• As far as possible try to make it in a non-stick pan.
• The stage of the sugar syrup is very important. If  you are a first timer with making sugar syrups then maybe you can have a trial session of the stages of sugar syrup with about 1/4 cup of sugar before you begin with the process. It will be worth the effort and lot of knowledge will be gained.
• Keep all the things measured and ready and then start.
• Remove it as soon as it starts changing it colour otherwise the mysorepak will become very dark in colour and give a burnt taste.
• Last but not the least, follow each and every step to the wee bit.