Sugar and Spice and all things nice

It is customary to make kheer or payasam when there is a festival or special puja at home. The payasam or kheer would be made from rice if it was Tamil New year day, from jackfruit and coconut milk if it was Vishu, from rice pieces and coconut milk (Palada Pradhaman) if it was Onam and from moong dal and jaggery if it was Varalakshmi Vratham...many variations of a simple milk based dish to suit different occasions. 

I broke this convention recently on one such important occasion and prepared Atta Burfi; I must say it was a welcome change. My mother makes a certain sweet called 7 cup cake during Deepavali and the Atta Burfi  I prepared takes its cues from this sweet.

So here goes the recipe for this very simple and super delicious sweet which took me a preparation time of 15 minutes. The measure of ingredients can yield about 10-12 medium sized pieces of atta burfi. 

Atta Burfi

Ingredients

1/2 cup Atta (whole wheat) flour

1/4 cup milk powder 

Cardomom powder (3/4 tsp) 

Saffron (about 10-12 strands) 

Ghee (6-8 tablespoons, I used 6 and that was sufficient) 

Sugar (little less than 1/2 cup) 

Method

Prepare a one string consistency sugar syrup using sugar and little water in a non stick pan. When the sugar syrup is just beginning to thicken to the consistency required, add saffron strands and stir well. The syrup would turn yellow due to the saffron strands and leave a pleasant aroma; quite unparalleled. 

Now lower the flame, add atta and milk powder slowly to the sugar syrup. Stir well avoiding any lumps in the flour. 

Start adding ghee spoon by spoon to the mixture in the pan. Stir well to bring all of the contents in the pan together. When mixing with a ladle, the contents of the pan, at some point, will come together as a big clump or a mass. Ghee will begin to leave from this mass onto the sides of the pan. This is the stage when one adds the cardamom powder, gives one final, quick stir and turns off the stove.  

Before you set out on the whole process, prepare a well greased container into which you will transfer the hot sweet from the stove. The contents of the pan are transferred to the greased container and allowed to cool. 

If the sugar syrup was of the right consistency and if you had not turned off the stove in a hurry; the sweet will begin to solidify and set. 

While the greased container is still hot to touch, make lines/patterns on the sweet running a knife so that you can cut and serve the burfi when cold. Strike while the iron is hot :) 

Upon complete cooling, lift cut portions of atta burfi using the knife, serve on a plate. 

Atta Burfi, cooled and cut pieces in an air tight container

Chick peas Sundal 

The black chick peas variety is my favorite and I always make a sundal out of it for every puja or festival at home. After everything sweet and sugary, I really crave for some salt and spice intake. I am sure this is a very widely known recipe. However, I am listing it for the sake of completion. 

Ingredients

1/2 cup black chick peas (soaked in water for about 6-8 hours) 

1 tsp oil 

1/2 tsp mustard

Few curry leaves

Little (say 1 tsp) idly chutney powder (dosa molaga podi) 

Salt to taste
Pinch of turmeric powder

Method 

Pressure cook the black chick peas with water for about 3 full whistles. Add required salt, little turmeric powder while cooking in the pressure cooker. If you want the black chick peas to be cooked well and be really soft, add 1/2 tsp ghee along with salt and turmeric powder. 

When out of the cooker, drain excess water, take a pan, add oil, when the oil is hot, add mustard, curry leaves and transfer the boiled chick peas to the pan. Stir and fry well for few minutes. Add idly chutney powder to the chick peas, give a quick and thorough mix, turn off the stove and serve. 

One can add broken urad dal (1/2 tsp) along with mustard and sprinkle grated coconut (1 tsp) in the end to make the sundal more fanciful.

Chick peas sundal and Atta Burfi - Sugar and Spice and all things Nice :)