Plain barfi (Indian milk sweet)

I am crazy about milk based Indian desserts - they just trigger so many happy memories, taking me back to festivals or celebrations in India or sometimes just enjoyed as occasional treats.

I attempted making barfi at home and it just felt like an achievement. Not very often, but I make barfi sometimes, especially when there is a lot of milk which needs to be used up. It does require some patience but it's worth the wait.

Ingredients

1 litre whole milk

2 tbsp lemon juice

A few strands / a pinch of saffron

3/4 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)

40 gms sugar

Pinch of cardamom powder

A few sliced almonds or pistachios

Method

Grease a plate with some ghee and keep ready for later.

In a wide non-stick pan bring the milk to boil (approximately 5 minutes) on a medium flame stirring continuously (to stop it from sticking to the pan). 

When the milk is warm, take out 2 tbsp in a bowl. Add the saffron strands and leave aside.

Let the milk in the pan boil for a couple of minutes before adding the lemon juice, a tbsp at a time, to make it curdle. 

Once the milk starts curdling, remove 1 cup of the whey. 

Let the curdled milk boil until it is reduced and the whey has almost completely evaporated. Now add the sugar, cardamom powder, saffron milk and ghee. Mix well and cook until the mixture thickens and comes together.

Remove onto the greased plate and use a spatula to shape into a square (or as square as you can manage :) ). Garnish with the sliced pistachios or almonds.

Let it cool, then refrigerate for at least an hour. 

Slice into smaller squares. Indulge! Try to stop yourself at one. Fail miserably, and eat them all ;)