Monday 23 March 2009

RECIPE: PISTACHIO FUDGE (PISTA BARFI)


BARFI or Indian Fudge is a popular Indian sweet and is served during festive seasons such as Diwali or to ‘sweeten’ the mouth on happy events such as marriages, engagements, births or for any auspicious or joyous occasions. There are many different flavourings and pistachio is one of the nicer and more expensive versions.

It is not hard to make BARFI but mind you, you need lots of arm muscles as you have to constantly stir the mixture. Don’t attempt to make this if you can’t give it your full attention. You can get around 18 large or 36 small squares with this measurement.


Ingredients

2 litres fresh full cream milk – the creamier the better
1¼ cups sugar
1 tbsp ghee or unsalted butter
½ teaspoon cardamom powder
1 cup raw blanced pistachio – ground fine
1 cup raw blanched pistachio nuts - chopped fine
1 cup slived almonds

Method

Combine milk, sugar, ghee and cardamom in a pot, preferably non-stick. Bring the milk to a rolling boil over moderate heat and continue to cook it, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon for about 45 minutes, or until the milk has reduced to a thick bubbling creamy mass, about half its original volume. Add the powdered pistachios.

Continue to reduce the fudge, stirring continuously with gently rhythmic strokes for a further 10 minutes, or until the mixture resembles a thick paste.

Reduce the heat to medium low, and cook the fudge, stirring and scraping with the wooden spoon for further 20 minutes or until the mixture becomes a thick dry lump. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the mixture to cool for one minute.

Transfer the fudge to a shallow, buttered tray. Press down the fudge using a banana leaf or aluminium foil until smooth. Evenly spread the chopped pistachios and the slivered almonds. Allow the fudge to cool for an hour.

Cut the fudge into pieces with a sharp, buttered knife. You may need to wipe the knife clean after each cut. Serve with a cup of “garam garam masala chai” ….. hot, hot spiced tea. Too good!!!




Note: Normally a layer of edible silver foil is transferred onto the BARFI. I personally dislike it as it reacts with my sensitive teeth.

18 comments:

Noor said...

I LOVE your dishes, so perfect. This fudge is a lot different than the one we make. But it looks so yummy, it reminds me of the Arabic sweet called halwa. Do you know what that is? I would like to try this, they look a lot the same to me.

Unknown said...

wow.. looks really yummy & delicious... nice clicks..

Shafidah Shamen said...

vin, i did emailed you something, reply okayy :-)

VG said...

Hi Noor, how are you dear?Thank you for your comments on my dishes and the Barfi. Yes, I know halwa. It tends to be softer in texture than the barfi. The barfi is slightly more harder. My favourite is Carrot Halwa and my mum used to make a spicy Pumpkin halwa that we ate with chapattis. let me know how you go when you make this.

Thank you Priya.

Fidah....just saw your e-mail and answered it.

Yes please, I would love some. You are a darling, muahhhh.

inahar ali said...

dear VG...hahaha..i've advised most of our dear bloggerfriends who still using int.explorer to change to mozilla which is more updated & faster..i've discarded int.explorer long time back..hehe! anyway..ur barfi really look delicious & very fudgy indeed..it looks the same as arabic sweets eg nougats..am i right?

VG said...

Hi Inahar, yipee... I finally caught up with you.

Yes, the barfi is like nougat but it is not chewy as nougat. There was a sikh guy in in the main road in Rawang who used to sell milk barfi. It seems he made the best barfi in Malaysia.

MamaFaMi said...

I love to eat Barfi, but to prepare it myself... errr maybe that's the last thing in my list-to-do. Lazy huh?

VG said...

No Mamafami...I don't think it is lazy...more like practical!! But I had the 'cravings' that bad that I made it. Now I am good for a few years before I attenpt to make this again, LOL.

Dora said...

Looks so interesting. Have not tried before.

VG said...

Thank you Dora. You should be able to find Barfi in the shops at Little India. I know the Indian grocery shops at Serangoon Road used to sell them too. There will be an array of flavours for you to try.

AnuSriram said...

Wow... thats very beautiful! Lovely barfis and nice click!

VG said...

Thank you Anu.

Anonymous said...

Wow, the fudge looks awesome and I luv your teaset!

Grace

VG said...

Thank you for your comments Grace. This is my latest collection to my china....it's getting to be quite an expensive hobby!!!

Cindy said...

Do you actually mean Milk Pista BURFI?

VG said...

Hi Cindy, I did not know that there is a distinction. I thought barfi is barfi....

Louisette passion retriever, cat, memory Katanga said...

Interresting, never eat Barfi, Looks i tried one day for eat , Greeting from Belgium

VG said...

Thank you Louisette....and greetings from Australia :)