Pistachios Baklava | Turkish Baklava | Baklava recipe

Turkish Baklava, a thin pastry layered with nuts which later baked and soaked in sugar-honey syrup. They are absolutely delicious, delicate pastry with crunchy nuts and oozing syrup,OMG, it's very addictive and i started to crave for some now when i have written those lines., you can't just stop by one for sure. 

If you have already tasted this delicious pastry, i'm sure that you agree with me on how delicious it is. If you haven't, you must try to believe what i'm saying here. I couldn't remember when was the first time that i had tasted this yummy sweet, but whenever i see it at any middle easy grocery store/bakery, never forgot to pick.  

Initially i thought that it  was very difficult to make, later i got to know that it can be made easily with the phyllo sheets available in the frozen section of grocery store. Yep, with store bought phyllo sheets, it seems easier to make than the most of the Indian sweets :-) 

So far i have baked baklava a handful of times, every time it turned out finger licking delicious. More than me, ST is a big fan of baklava, that's rare because in our home, i'm known for sweet tooth :-)

Related: Baked Potato Samosa with Phyllo Sheets

I have read lot of recipes before making them. But i'm not sure which one is traditional and how it's been made in Turkey. From my reading, i have understood that Greeks, Lebanese, Turkish and Armenians have their own style of making them and it's difficult to pin point one particular baklava to one specific region., always there is mix of varieties in every regions. 

So here i'm sharing my favorite way of making them. I love to use pistachios and almonds in my baklava, not only it looks tempting, the combination is so good.

Pistachios Baklava | Turkish Baklava

Preparation Time : 15 mins | Cooking Time : 1 hr | Serves : 6 
Recipe Category: Sweet | Recipe Cuisine: Turkey
Almond, Baklava, Desserts, Middle East, Pistachio, Sugar, Sweet, Turkey Turkish Baklava, a thin pastry layered with nuts which later baked and soaked in sugar-honey syrup.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Phyllo sheet - 6
Almond -1/3 cup
Pistachios - 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp
Cardamom - 2 tsp
For Syrup
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Honey - 2 tbsp
Water - 1/4 cup
Lemon zest - 1/2 tsp
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp 

Procedure

Add the nuts(Almonds & Pistachios ) and cardamom into the blender and blend it coarsely and keep it aside.

Unwrap the phyllo sheets and take the needed 6 sheets and keep the remaining in the refrigerator.

Take one phyllo sheets on the working surface, cover the remaining with damn kitchen cloth, fold into half and brush it with butter all over, again fold into half and brush it with butter all over.

Place that phyllo sheet into buttered baking pan. Do the same for another sheet and place it on the baking pan. Next add half of the nut mixture into the baking pan.

Cover it with two buttered phyllo sheets as we did before and add the remaining nut mixture. 

Cover the top with two buttered phyllo sheets.. Cut them into triangles.

Bake it in the preheated oven for 350F for 50 mins to 1 hr.
In the mean time, add the sugar, honey and 1/4 cup of water into the sauce pan.

Bring into boil and let all the sugar melts. Add the lemon zest and cardamom ,switch off the flame.

Once it's baked, remove from the oven, let it cool for 5 mins and then pour the sugar syrup all over. Let it sit for 2-3 hrs or overnight.

Cut and serve. Delicious Baklava is ready.

Related: Baked Onion Samosa with Phyllo Sheets

Related: More Baking Recipes

Notes:

• Make sure the syrup is also slightly warm when you pour over baklava, if not, reheat for few mins and use it.
• Use sharp knives for perfect cut.
• Soaking time is very important, so let it set for minimum 2 hrs before serving.

Related: Baked Avocado Rolls with Phyllo Sheets

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Sweet Potato Halwa | Sakkaravalli Kizhangu Halwa | Deepavali Sweet

Sweet Potato Halwa, a quick to make halwa from the sweet potato. If you' ve been following my blog regularly, you might know that for this week I'm posting colorful dishes with the naturally available ingredients without using any food color. 

Though I have been buying sweet potatoes regularly, I never thought of making halwa, mostly made stir fry or just steam and have it for evening time, but when I signed up for this theme, I wanted to make something sweet with sweet potato since it's deepavali time !!!

So I had started searching for the dessert recipe with sweet potato, that's when I came across this halwa recipe from manjula's kitchen, the recipe was so easy and sounds so delicious too.

In the next couple of days, i had prepared this and as expected the taste and texture was amazing, unless you have told, no one can find that this halwa is made from sweet potato. ST also didn't find out and kept on asking me what halwa it is till he finishes off his share of halwa :-)

Unlike other halwa recipes, it doesn't need a lot of sugar and ghee, still it's lip smacking delicious. Adding milk gives such a rich flavor to this halwa.It's so simple to make, even beginners can try without any difficulties. 

But one thing you have to make sure that the mashed sweet potatoes are sauteed well in the ghee before adding any other ingredients to avoid that raw potato flavor in the final halwa. Now let's check out how to make this delicious halwa.  

About the Sweet Potato

Sweet Potatoes available here in North America are usually in bright orange color, so I haven't used any color in my halwa. But in India, the sweet potatoes are mostly in pale yellow or mild orange color, if you're using that variety and want bright color halwa, feel free to add a few drops or pinch of orange food color.

About the sugar quantity

In the ingredient list, I have mentioned the sugar quantity as 1/3 to 1/2 cup because depending on the sweetness of the potato, the amount of sugar varies ! So if your sweet potato has enough sweet, I would recommend starting off with 1/3 cup of sugar and increase if needed after giving a quick taste test !

 

Sweet Potato Halwa

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 25 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Halwa | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Sweet Potato Halwa,Sakkaravalli Kizhangu Halwa,Indian Halwa Recipe,Diwali sweet,Deepavali Sweet Sweet Potato Halwa, a delicious and easy to make halwa with sweet potato,milk,sugar and ghee.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Sweet Potato(mashed) - 1 cup
Milk - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1/3 to  1/2 cup
Ghee - 2 tbsp
Cardamom - 2 
Cashews - 6

Procedure

First pressure cook the sweet potato and keep it ready, remove the skin and mashed them well.

I had approximately 1 cup mashed sweet potato. Heat the pan with 1 & 1/2 tbsp of ghee, add the cashews.

Roast them till it becomes slightly golden brown, then remove it on the plate. In the same ghee, add the mashed sweet potato.

Saute them in the ghee until it becomes non sticky and move along with the laddle.

Then add the milk in to the mashed potato.

Mix it well and cook again until it becomes a thick mass. After adding milk, the mixture tends to splatter a little, so be careful while stirring. 

Next add the sugar and mix it well. At this stage, the mixture becomes little watery, but that's completely normal. Then add the crushed cardamom into the halwa.

Add the remaining 1/2 tbsp of ghee into the halwa now and stir it continuously till the halwa becomes glossy, non-sticky and move along with the laddle.

Finally add the roasted cashews into the halwa and switch off the flame. Halwa is ready to serve.

Tasty and vibrant looking Sweet Potato Halwa is ready.

Related : How to make Lauki Halwa / Bottle gourd Halwa

Notes:

• Depends on the sweetness of the potato, you may need up to 1/2 cup of sugar. My potatoes are already sweet, so i have used 1/3 cup of sugar only.
• Saute the mashed potato in the ghee till it becomes non sticky. That gives the wonderful aroma to the halwa, otherwise you get the strong smell of the potato.
• Milk gives nice richness to the halwa, if you want more richness, you can add 1/4 cup of khoya too.
• Cook the entire time in medium flame.
  

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Badusha/Balushahi, a delicious indian sweet made from the all purpose flour. It's an  Indian version of glazed doughnut(For western donuts, check out this recipe) with flaky texture inside.

Compared to other indian sweets, Badusha has a very mild sweet with rich buttery flavor, that's the main reason for me to like it so much, you can eat few badusha without overpowering the sweet taste(or simply we say "thigatamal" in tamil).  As far as I remember, we used to buy Badusha from the sweet stalls only, never tried to make it at home while growing up.

But after marriage, since we move a lot, i had started to make all kinds of sweet at home. Now here in US where i live now, it's hard to find fresh indian sweets, mostly they are old and even the taste is also not good or else you would get that "Haldigram" kind of packed sweets which i hate like anything. 

So if at all i crave for some indian sweets, there is no way other than making on my own. Sometimes I felt like unless we moved to the US,  I would never get this much interest in cooking.

Ok, now coming to the badusha recipe, i had tried this sweet quite a few times already and it turned out delicious every "SINGLE" time. The texture  and the taste of this badusha is just like how you get it in sweet stalls, the mild white sugar coating on the outside and the buttery flaky inside, literally melt in your mouth. 

I personally like badusha on the next day than the day it 's prepared. Give it a good rest time for better taste & flavor. So what are you waiting for?? Try this badusha for this deepavali and treat your friends and family. Before checking out the recipe, do give a read on FAQ if you're a beginner in making this sweet.

Why doesn't my badusha have that flaky texture inside ?

There are few things to be taken care for flaky inside 

• Make sure not to knead the dough. Over kneading develops the gluten hence the flaky texture gets lost.
• Don't reduce the amount of fat used in this recipe
• Make sure to cook on low flame for a longer time.

If you follow these steps religiously, i'm confident that you will get super flaky badusha.

Why doesn't my badusha have that white sugar coating ?

First the sugar syrup consistency is important to get that white coating on outside, so make sure to get that single string consistency. Second, let it cool down completely.

How to store and how long it stays well ?

Once it cools down completely, it can be stored in any air tight/normal container at room temperature. It stays well for a week to 10 days at room temperature. You can refrigerate them if you want to store for longer days.  

Badusha | Balushahi | Diwali Sweet

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 25 mins | Makes : 10 
Recipe Category: Sweet | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Badusha, Balushahi,How to make Badusha recipe, Easy Badusha recipe,Flaky badusha, Indian Donut,Deepavali Sweets Badusha/Balushahi, a delicious indian sweet made from the all purpose flour. It's an  Indian version of glazed doughnut with flaky texture inside.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Maida/All purpose flour - 1 cup
Butter - 3 tbsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Baking soda - a big pinch
Salt - a pinch
Sugar - 1 tsp
Curd - 1 tsp
Oil - for frying
For sugar syrup
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Water - just enough to immerse the sugar
Cardamom - 2 
Saffron - few strands
Lemon juice - 1 tsp

Procedure

Melt the butter and add into the bowl along with oil, baking soda, sugar & curd.

Whisk all together until it's slightly foamy, then add the flour and mix it well with your hand.

Then add water little by little and form a soft dough. Knead the dough for 3-4 mins or until it's smooth on the surface without any cracks. Cover it with lid and leave it aside for few mins, next for the sugar syrup, add the sugar and water in a bowl and bring into boil.

Once the sugar syrup reaches one string consistency(take a little bit of sugar syrup between thumb and fore finger and move the fingers apart slowly, it should form a single string in between your fingers), switch off the flame and squeeze the lemon juice immediately.

Next add the powdered cardamom and saffron into the sugar syrup, mix it well and leave it aside. Now take the dough and form a 10 equal sized balls.Take a ball and make a dent in the middle with your fore finger.

Do the same for all the dough. Heat the oil for frying, add the badusha dough gently.

Cook till it becomes golden brown on both sides, remove from oil, drain it in paper for few secs and them immediately put it in sugar syrup.

Coat both sides of badusha with sugar syrup well and then remove it on the plate to dry completely. 

Tasty and flaky badusha is ready. For more diwali sweets and snacks, check out my collections

Related:How to make crispy & juicy jalebi

Notes:

• Once the oil is heated, keep the flame in low for entire cooking, it helps to make sure that the inside is well cooked and have that wonderful texture inside.
• To check the oil temperature, add a pinch of dough, it should come up slowly, that's the correct temperature to fry the badusha.
• If the sugar syrup crystalizes in between, reheat it for few secs until it becomes runny and then add the badusha.
• Let the badusha soak in sugar syrup for 1-2 mins.
• Soak the badusha in sugar syrup as  batches for easy absorbing. 
  
  

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Apple Jalebi, a quick and easy to make sweet recipe with apples. I had seen this recipe long back on manjula's kitchen, even since i wondered how would it taste and also wanted to give a try. 

At last, a year back i tried this sweet for the first time and we really enjoyed it. The sourness from the apple while eating this jalebi exactly reminded me about the slight sourness from the traditional jalebi(do check out the traditional jalebi recipe also, one of the popular post in my blog and turned out so good each time.), guess that's why they named this dish as "Apple Jalebi".

 If you're looking for some indian flavored sweet recipe with apples, then do give it a try, you won't be disappointed for sure. 

This jalebi becomes little bit soggy when it's cooled down, so I would recommend to fry as many apple slices as you want at a time and refrigerate the remaining(apples, batter and sugar syrup).

Fry them whenever needed and then slightly reheat the syrup and dip the fried apples in it, that way ,it give you crispy and tasty apple jalebis every time!!! 

Now let's check out the recipe for this yummy Apple Jalebis.

Apple Jalebi | Sweet Recipe

Preparation Time : 30 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2 to 3 
Recipe Category: Sweet | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Apple Jalebi,Indian sweet,Green Apple Apple Jalebi, a quick and easy to make sweet recipe with apples.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Green Apple - 1
Maida/All purpose flour - 1/3 cup
Instant yeast -1/4 tsp
Salt - a pinch
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
Oil - for deep frying
Water - as needed for batter
For Sugar Syrup
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Water - 1/2 cup
Lemon Juice - 1 tsp
Saffron Strands - few
Orange food color - a pinch(Optional)

Procedure

Take all the required ingredients, in a bowl, add the maida & yeast, mix it well.

Then add the sugar and salt, mix it well and then pour the needed water to make the batter.

The batter should be free flowing but not too thin. Cover it with lid and let it rest for 30 mins.

In the mean time, let's make the sugar syrup, heat the pan with water and sugar, add few strands of saffron.

Let it comes to boil, reduce the flame and cook till the syrup becomes sticky. Switch off the flame. If you're using food color, add it now and then add the lemon juice. Mix it well and your sugar syrup is ready.

Next, peel the apple and cut them into thin circles, remove the seeds from the centre and keep it ready.

After 30 mins, the batter should be all bubbly and became thick.Heat the oil in the pan for frying.

Deep the apple slice into the batter and coat them on both sides well.

Gently drop them into oil and cook on both side till it becomes golden in color. 

Drain from the oil and add it into the sugar syrup, let it soak for 2 mins and then remove from the syrup and arrange it on the plate.

Tasty Apple Jalebi is ready. Serve immediately!

Related: How to make Traditional Jalebi

Notes:

• Sugar syrup should be warm while adding the fried apples, it helps to absorb the syrup easily.
• If the sugar syrup becomes cold & not absorbed by apples well in between then slightly warm them.
• Instead of saffron flavor, you can cardamom flavor too.
  

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