ACK 10.17: Dvaraka burfi

Dvaraka burfi

Toasted chick-pea-flour fudge

In Sweden, comparative religion is a required subject for all students, and an occasional field trip is always an integral part of the course. Many students have said that their favorite field trip is the one that goes to the Hare Krsna farm just outside Stockholm. Almost every day of the school year, a new busload of children discover the joyful Krsna conscious life of chanting, dancing, and feasting. The cook always makes a big plate of dvaraka burfi for the occasion. It never fails to win the heart of a Swedish student-or anyone else who tries it.

Preparation and cooking time: 30 min

1 3/4 cups (400 g) butter
3 cups (300 g) sifted chickpea flour
1 cup (250 ml) milk
1 cup (250 ml) water
1 1/4 cups (250 g) sugar
1/4 cup (35 g) cashew nuts, chopped coarse
2 tablespoon grated coconut

Melt the butter in a medium-sized saucepan. Stir the chick-pea flour into the butter and stir-fry it gently over low heat, taking care not to burn it. After about 15 minutes, when the flour is lightly browned, remove the pan from the heat.

In another saucepan, make the syrup by boiling together the milk, water, and sugar, until a drop of syrup makes one strand between your thumb and forefinger. Stir the nuts and coconut into the syrup, and pour the syrup into the chick-pea flour. Cook and stir gently over very low heat until the mixture thickens and becomes less sticky.

After it cools enough to handle, form it into a square cake on a plate. When it becomes firm, cut it into pieces. Top each piece with half a cashew nut or some chopped pistachio nuts.