Tuesday, March 20, 2012

recipes of Til ki burfi and Besan ki burfi : two burfi ecipes for festive season


Burfi or katli is a fudge made with evaporated milk or khoya and sugar normally, called khoye ki burfi. The plain khoye ki burfi can be made with different flavors like saffron, cardamom, sprinkled with chopped nuts or even flowers petals like rose. I had never liked the plain khoya burfis, whatever colour or flavor they were.

til ki barfi

I found all the other variants of burfi really interesting, even a green colored lauki (bottle guard) ki burfi or another green hare chane ki barfi which is actually halwa. Many burfi like mithais are actually halwa like the famous karachi halwa is actually a burfi and even Habshi halwa and Dhoda come into the form of burfi.

Well, that Lauki ki burfi is not a popular recipe probably because it is made with a cheap ingredient, no one feels proud to eat and serve that anymore. I don't make it because it uses a lot of sugar to almost crystallize the grated bottle guard. Yes the lauki ki burfi is that sweet. I used to love it more for the texture when I was a child.

Other variants of burfi were the many kinds of Besan (gram flour) ki burfi, Nariyal (coconut) ki burfi and Til (sesame) ki burfi. I make these more and more because they can be adapted to a lower sugar version, the way one enjoys the flavors of other ingredients more I feel. Sesame and Coconut are my favorite ingredients to go for either savory or sweet treats.

These two types of burfi I am sharing today, use the same technique of cooking the khoya and sugar together till the mixture bubbles, then addng the other ingredients and mixing them, cooking further for a few minutes till the mixture becomes like a ball in the hot pan. The other burfi is a Besan, coconut and khoya burfi.

This til ki barfi was traditionally made for makar sankranti in many homes and the same mixture was even stuffed in gujhia that was made in some families in Banaras.

til ki barfi

ingredients for sesame or til ki burfi...
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of prepared khoya (make it in microwave using powdered milk like this)
1 cup of water
3 cups of roasted sesame seeds (or a little more or less, depends on how quickly you mix the ingredients when hot)
some finely chopped mixed nuts of you wish

procedure...

Mix the water, sugar and prepared khoya in a kadai and start boiling the mixture.

The sugar would melt first and then the melting and mixing khoya would make an emulsion like consistency while boiling. The mixture would bubble like lava at one time so be careful to watch it as soon as the margins start getting lighter in color and the whole mix gets frothy.

This is the time to add the roasted sesame seeds into this boiling mix. Add the chopped nuts too if using.

Keep adding the sesame seeds slowly as you mix the hot mixture, and accommodate as much sesame as you can. The mixture should be in a barely flowing consistency at the end of it. Holding together like a ball.

The more sesame seeds you add the more less sugar content of this burfi would be. Mixing the boiling khoya-sugar mix faster would help you add quite a good amount of sesame seeds.

Now take the kadai off the flame and pour the mixture on a greased metal plate, tray or thali.

Flatten the mixture with the help of a long blade knife. and score marks for cutting the burfi in desired shape.

Let them cool completely and store in an airtight container.

This Til ki burfi is suitable for fasting during Navratri too...


Recipe of besan ki burfi 
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besan ki barfi

ingredients
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of khoya
1 cup of water
1.5 cups of dry roasted besan (chickpea flour)
1.5 cup of dry coconut powder or dessicated coconut

procedure...

The boiling of khoya, water and sugar mixture would be just like the sesame seeds burfi. Follow the same steps.

Then add the besan and coconut powder mix to the boiling mixture, mix well just like instructed in the sesame burfi and pour in a greased metal plate or tray. Cut in desired shape and let it cool before storing them in an airtight container.

Notes for the besan-coconut burfi :

besan coconut barfi

Roast the besan in a thick base kadai on a low flame so it gets nicely browned slowly. This way it develops a nice nutty taste. Take care not to burn the besan as it starts sticking to the base when either the heat level is high or stirring is slow .

Singhade ka aatta or Water Chestnut flour can be used if you are making this burfi for fasting days. The taste is great with Singhada flour too.

The coconut used here is the regular dry nut, grated and powdered in mixie. You can use desiccated coconut  or even coconut flour available in many places.

Finely chopped nuts can be added to this burfi too, for added texture and flavors if you like.

The same procedure can be used to make burfi with any nut powders you wish.

A very versatile and forgiving recipe to make burfi that lasts quite some time. Keeps well at room temperature for about two weeks.

I know a few people have been waiting for these recipes as I had posted the pictures during holi on my facebook page. Do make these and be assured these are quite low on sugar content, if you can manage to accommodate more Sesame or Besan-Coconut mix to the boiling syrup mix.

Do let me know if you like them...

11 comments:

  1. yummy n tatsy fudges.perfectly done.........

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  2. Hi Sangeeta..Thanks for this post ..will surely try the sesame burfi..As it is my daughters are falling in love with your recipes..This too shall be added to the list!!:)
    Sunita Damodar

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    1. I am glad your family is liking them. Spreading love is easy :-)
      Thanks Sunita.

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  3. Hi Sangeeta..Thanks for this post ..will surely try the sesame burfi..As it is my daughters are falling in love with your recipes..This too shall be added to the list!!:)

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  4. there should be some way to check the cosistency of the mixture to spread and set it?

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    1. Since it is not cooked using a sugar syrup there will be no way to test the consistency of the sugar syrup so it sets properly. In this case it is a mix of Khoya, sesame seeds and other ingredients, so just look for the binding consistency which is not too hard to stir the cooking mixture. It should make a ball together in the pan. On cooling it harden a bit and becomes almost crumbly when cool owing to minimal amount of sugar.

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  5. what is the method to check the consistency of the mixture to set properly?

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  6. I found your recipe n did my experiment of mixing ground sesame seeds in sugar syrup but the barfi did not harden . is there any way I can improve it now?

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    Replies
    1. HI Deepti, you can add a little bhuna khoya to the mix now and cook it again till it gets really hot. This will enable some dehydration of the mixture and will help set the barfi. Or just spread on a baking tray and bake at low temperature till set.

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  7. I found your recipe late n did my experiment of mixing ground sesame seeds in sugar syrup but the barfi did not harden . is there any way I can improve it now?

    ReplyDelete