Thursday, December 1, 2011

Fig Burfi





Yercaud trip was refreshing. We stayed at a resort owned by Mr. Visu Kaliyappa who as a gesture of hospitality and good will gifted us a bag full of figs. Now I really didn’t know what to do with them as I have never eaten or tasted fig or anything made with fig. Fig is a fruit popular in European countries, not in India. In fact it's hard to find them in an Indian market. I was surfing through channels when a recipe of fig drew my attention in active cooking on Tata Sky. The recipe belongs to a famous Indian culinary expert, but as is common in recipes by reputed chefs, they always skip on some steps and for an amateur cook like me who has never prepared burfi other than those made of semolina; it was hard to fill in the missing instructions. Halfway through my preparation I realized something was going wrong, so desperately I sought help from the omnipresent saviour...the cyber world.....and bingo I got the idea of how to save myself from a cooking disaster....btw, apart from adding a distinct sweet and crunchy flavour to the dish, fig is also useful for controlling blood pressure. Being rich in fiber content, fig, like oats, further helps in weight management.
Ingredients:                                   Cooking time: 30 minutes
ü  6 figs (peeled)
ü  1 tsp cardamom powder
ü  Sugar as per taste (I used 1/2 cup of sugar)
ü  1/2 cup of dry fruits (I used broken cashew nuts, pistachios, almonds and raisins)
ü  1 tsp ghee
Method:
1) In one or two cups of water, boil the figs for 5-10 minutes till they turn a bit soft. Drain the water and grind the figs in a food processor to a smooth paste.
2) Heat ghee in a non-stick pan and roast the dry fruits till raisins balloon up. Mix in figs paste and sugar. Stir around for 5 minutes till figs leave the side of the pan. Add cardamom and fold in.
3) In a greased pan, spread the mixture and let it cool. You may refrigerate it for one day allowing it to harden and then cut into burfi shapes and serve.

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