Basundi - New Year special

     I am wishing all my readers,friends and fellow bloggers a very "Happy new year ". Let this new year bring prosperous in all your lives.We had a blast at our friend's house.We prepared dishes from different cuisine like, Veg soup,Butterfly shrimp,Falafel,Pita bread,gobi munchurian,chicken munchurian,Veg noodles,Sezchwan fried rice,Pilaf and baklava for dessert with new year cake.

       Basundi is a dessert with lots of malai(thickened milk) and very little milk.It is served with lot of nuts and saffron.Basundi is my H's favourtie sweet.Whenever we go to Gupta Bhavan,he orders this sweet .This weekend,when I was searching for a different dessert,for my guests, my H came out with this beautfiul dessert. After 2 trials,I've settled down with this recipe.The cooking process is long. It almost took me 1 hr to cook the milk ,so that it is reduced to 1/4 of its volume. Always prepare basundi with whole milk cooked in medium flame. Best way is to prepare basundi one day before and refrigerate it.Serve basundi chilled with lot of nuts, the next day

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Prep Time    : 1 hr ( approx)

Servings       :  4

 

Ingredients:

1.Whole milk        -         4 cups   (1 ltr)

2.Sugar                  -        1/3 cup  (5 tbsp)

3.Saffron strands  -         15 strands

4.Pistas                  -        1 tbsp (chopped)

5.Almonds            -        1 tbsp  (chopped)

6.Cashews             -        1 tbsp ( chopped)

7.Cardamom pwdr  -       1/4 tsp

 



 

Method:

* Take a heavy bottomed pan (preferrably non stick pan) and make it wet.This helps in preventing the milk from settling down while cooking.Pour milk and bring it to boil.Now take a tbsp of warm milk and put the saffron strands and keep it aside.This makes the saffron to get infused with the milk.We can also put the saffron directly into the boiling milk,as I did on the first trial.But that will not give the beautiful yellow colour to basundi. So make the saffron strands sit in warm milk ,till the end of the cooking process and then add it to the basundi for beautiful colour and flavor.

 

 

* Now bring the flame to medium low and cook the milk.This slow flame ,brings out a unique flavor to the dish.In my first picture,the milk is in starting stage.In my second picture,it has reduced to 10 % and in the third pictured it has redued to 25 %.While the milk is cooking,stir it in between and scrape out the malai from the sides and put it into the milk again.

 

* In my 4 th picture,milk is almost reduced to half. Don't forget to stir in between.If not the milk will settle to the bottom of the pan and it will be blackened.In my 5 th picture,it has almost reduced to 70 %.The 6 th picture shows the final stage,where we have gor 1/4 cup of the original milk.Now our milk has 75 % malai and 25 % milk.This is the right consistancy.

 

* Here,I've got the saffron strands infused in warm milk in my 7 th pic.Now add sugar and stir it well.Cook till the sugar is dissolved.Finally add cardamom pwdr,saffron and nuts.Save some nuts for garnishing. 

  Serve basundi warm or cold by garnishing nuts ,at the time of serving. I prefer serving it chilled.

 

 

Note:
* I have added 1/3 cup sugar,but you can alter the sugar level according to ur taste buds.
* Make sure basundi is not so thick.If not it will not have the exact taste.
* Always add nuts and saffron at the end,if not we will not be able to get the right texture and flavor.
* When we add nuts in the beginning ,then basundi will become thick and the nuts will be soggy.So add nuts at the end.
* When we keep basundi in refrigerator overnight,it makes lot of malai to settle down in it.So make sure basundi is thin ,if you are going to refrigerate ,as it will become thick later..