Badam Burfi | Home-Made Almond Fudge

Saturday, 17th October was Diwali, the festival of lights!! We were lucky this year not only to lay our lands on diyas - earthenware lamps, but also on some sparklers. The latter are usually hard to come by here, and I have found that they were not even sold at Asian stores. This year, however, my local Indian grocer was truly well stocked!! He even had Murtis of Ganesha and Lakshmi for puja - delightful!!

We had our family meal on Diwali eve, complete with traditional foods including chole, matar paneer, aloo-badi, zeera wale chawal, and makhane ki kheer. I did not venture to make puris as they had been a part of the Dusshera menu!!

On Diwali itself, I made some of this melt-in-the-mouth Badam Burfi. Its simple, satisfying, and will easily keep for 2 weeks in the refrigerator. It is very easy to make, tasty, and be warned it can be rather heavy on the stomach should you decide to overindulge....

Ingredients:
1 cup almonds
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp milk
1/4 cup sugar
6 tbsp ghee
4 green cardamoms
Pinch saffron

Method:

1. Place the almonds in a microwave safe bowl, cover with tap water. Microwave covered for 6 minutes. This will loosen their skin.
2. Carefully remove from microwave, drain, and peel the almonds. Wash the peeled almonds in some freshly taped water.
3. Blend with the 1/2 cup milk in a wet grinder until you get a fine paste.
4. Heat the 2 tablespoons of milk in a small bowl. Add the saffron to this.
5. Peel the green cardamoms, and grind coarsely.
6. Pour the almond paste into a heavy bottomed pan, and on medium heat cook this until it begins to stick together. Add sugar.
7. At this stage add the saffron milk, cardamom, and a tablespoon of ghee. Add ghee at regular intervals and continue cooking on low heat until the paste leaves the sides of the pan and becomes pliable enough to form a ball.
8. Grease a plate, pour the paste onto it. Flatten with a large spoon to get a 1/4" thick layer of the paste. Cool completely.
9. Cut into squares or diamonds.

These delicious golden diamonds taste superb with a glass of warm milk on a winter evening. This entry also goes out to Diwali Dhamaka @ Purva's Dawat!!

Note: I put little sugar as I feel any more obscures the taste of the other ingredients. You can adjust the sugar according to taste.

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