Badam Pak / Almond Fudge

Ingredients
1 lb butter
1 lb semolina
1 lb Almonds; roughly ground
2 tins condensed milk (405gm each) (I used carnation nestle)
8 oz whole milk powder
8 oz desiccated coconut
1 teaspoon roughly ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 big pinch saffron
handful of Sliced almonds and pistachios nuts for garnishing

1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan and add the semolina and cardamom, fry until golden brown. It should a yummy aroma.  Take it off the heat. (important else you will get burnt pak)
2. Add all almonds and condensed milk, saffron and nutmeg and mix well
3. Add the rest  of the ingredients and mix well.  It is quite hard to mix as there is a lot of it.
4 Put back on very low heat and keep stirring until everything gels together, about 8 minutes.
5. Place the mixture on a greased baking tray, flatten and smooth the surface.
6. Decorate with the sliced nuts.

7. Cut the pak into squares, and leave until completely cold, remove each piece gently. Place in an airtight container to store.

Mitha Chowka / Meetha Chawal / Sweet Nutty Rice Dessert

I had a request for mitha chowka today, this sweet rice dish, flavoured with cardamom & saffron and full of nuts and raisins is a real treat.  

In Kampala we used to get this only on Fridays.  Once a month Chachi and Malek would make a huge pan of it for the local masjid.  To get this beautiful orange colour, we have used food colouring.   Saffron colours it yellow.

I

2 tablespoon butter or ghee
2-3 cloves
1 stick cinnamon
2-3 pods cardamom
2 cups water
7-8 strands saffron

few drops of orange food colouring (optional)

1 cup basmati rice; washed and soaked for at least 30 minutes
3 tablespoon sliced nuts (almonds, pistachios, walnuts)
1 tablespoon raisins
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg

Method
1 Heat the butter, add the whole cardamom, cinnamon and cloves, cook for a few minutes and add the water.
2. Add the saffron and food colouring to the water with the drained rice.  Bring to boil.  Turn down the heat and simmer for about 7-10 minutes until almost cooked, it should be watery.
3. Add the nuts, raisins and sugar, mix and cook for a further 7-10 minutes.
4. Sprinkle the ground cardamom and nutmeg before serving.

Gundh / Goondh Pak

This is a Khoja version of Gundh Pak, it is a very nutritious. It is often especially made for nursing mothers, in which case it is made with dried ginger, dill seeds and Kantlo spices as well. This recipe is Firoz's recipe


1 lb ghee
4 oz gundh
1 lb whole meal flour (Chapati flour)
1 lb gur / jaggary
1 small tin (200ml)  evaporated milk
8oz milk powder
8 oz sliced almonds
1 tspn cardomom
1/2 tspn freshly grated nutmeg
4 oz descicated coconut




for decoration
1 tablespn sliced pistachious
1 tablspn sliced almonds

Method
1, Heat the ghee and fry the gundh pieces until the pop, remove and set aside.
2. Fry the flour in the same ghee, until its browns and has a sweet aroma, add the gur or jaggary, stir until it melts.
3. Remove from heat and add the milk powder and the evoporated milk, coconut, almonds, nutmeg and cardomom.
4. Stir well and add the fried gundh
5. Place the mixture on a greased baking tray, flatten and smooth the surface.
6. Decorate with the sliced nuts.
7. Cut the pak into squares, and remove gently. Place in an airtight container to store.

Bundi ja Ladu

Ingredients

1. Bundi
2 1/2 lb chickpea (gram flour)
1 heaped tpsn coarsely ground cardamom
yellow colour (optional)
pinch safron soaked in a little water
2-3 cups water
oil for deep frying

2. Syrup
2 lb sugar
3 cups water
1 pinch saffron
yellow colour (optional)



3. Ladu
1/2 tspn nutmeg
8 oz slivered almonds
1 oz raisons
2 gram saffron

Method
Bundi
1. Mix the flour and cardamom in a large bowl, add water, saffron and colour if using to make a thick batter. Let it sit for 20 minutes, add more water if neccesary.
2. Heat the oil in a large wok or karai (we used our faithful wok bought from chinatown eons ago)
3. Place the bundi jaro (see pic 3rd in first set), over the hot oil and pour a ladleful of batter on the jaro, rub the batter on the jaro/sieve, so that fine bits of batter fall into the hot oil to make little balls (bundi). Remove from the oil into a large container.
4. Repeat this step until all the batter is used up


Syrup / Chasni
Place the sugar, saffron and water in a saucepan, bring to boil. When the syrup forms a thread beween two fingers, add it to the bundi.

Ladu
Mix the bundi with the almonds, nutmeg, raisons and saffron, add the syrup, mix well.
Form medium sized balls (slightly smaller than a tennis ball)
makes 45.

Churma ja ladu

We also made these, on Saturday, they are for Shaheen and Mohsin's majlis on Tuesday 21st November.

Ingredients

1lb whole meal flour

4 oz chickpea flour

14 oz gur

4 oz milk powder

½ cup oil

8 oz butter

2 oz pistachios 2 oz chopped almonds

1 oz sultanas

1 ¼ teaspoon roughly ground cardamom

1 gm saffron

2 ½ tsp ground nutmeg

2 oz poppy seeds

makes 16-20 depending on the size

Method

Mix the two flours, add the oil and rub well, add some warm water to make a firm dough.

Shape the dough in flat oval shaps about ¾ inch and deep fry

When cool, grind or break them into a coarse powder

Heat the butter in a large saucepan, and melt the grated gur,

as soon as it starts bubbling, remove from heat and add:

1. milk powder

2. all the spices, (accept for poppy seeds), and saffron

3. the nuts (we did not have any pistas) and sultanas

4. the coarsely ground fried flour mixture

mix thoroughly, shape the mixture into desired size balls and roll them in the poppy seeds.