Walnuts & Indian Sweets: A Match Made In Heaven!

August 21, 2020

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Walnuts & Indian Sweets: A Match Made In Heaven!

The month of August marks the beginning of a series of festivities across the country. From Ganesh Chaturthi to Dussehra and Diwali, August heralds the arrival of one happy occasion after another. From delicious halwas to lip-smacking barfis, Indian households truly come alive with the fragrance of wonderful sweetmeats come August.

Here are the recipes packed with the added crunch of walnuts to amp up your favorite Indian sweets and make your celebrations special.

California Walnut Barfi– Chef Sabyasachi Gorai

Ingredients

1 cup California walnuts

¼ cup milk

250g khoya or mawa

¼ cup sugar

1 tablespoon ghee/clarified butter + a little extra for greasing

½ teaspoon cardamom powder

Preparation:

Take ½ cup of California walnuts in a bowl.
To this add ¼ cup of milk and let it soak for 1 hour. Thereafter, blend it into a coarse pureé.
Heat 1 tablespoon of ghee in a pan and add the remaining walnuts. Sauté till golden, drain and set aside.
Now in the same ghee, add khoya and sugar and mix well. To this add the walnut puree and mix again.
Keep cooking this till it gets thick and leaves the sides.
Then add cardamom powder and fried walnuts and mix well.
Spread this on a greased plate and let it set for a few hours.
Slice into pieces and garnish with California walnuts.

California Walnut Rasmalai– Chef Varun Inamdar

Ingredients

For the chenna

8 cups full cream milk

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup water

For the California walnut milk syrup

2 ½ cups California walnut milk

3 tablespoons milk powder

1/3 cup sugar

A few drops of yellow food grade color

Garnish

1/8 teaspoon saffron strands

1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder

1 teaspoon walnut flakes

Handful California walnuts, chopped roughly

For the sugar syrup

3 cups water

1 cup sugar

Preparation

For the chenna

Boil milk in a heavy bottom pan.
When it boils, add in vinegar and water mixed together. Stir and turn the flame off.
Strain the curdled milk using a muslin cloth and wash the milk solids under running tap water. Keep aside till they cool.
With the heel of your palm massage the washed curds for 15 minutes till it is shiny and smooth. Divide into 12 balls.
Roll them and flatten them.

For the syrup

Heat sugar and water together till they start boiling, in a heavy bottomed vessel.
Drop in the chenna balls. Cover with a lid and allow it to roll boil for 15 minutes.
Switch the flame off and allow the syrup and chenna to come down to room temperature.

For the California walnut milk syrup

In a heavy bottomed pan, add California walnut milk and bring it to a boil. Add in sugar, yellow color and milk powder. Once the sugar is dissolved, switch the flame off.

Assembly

Take the poached balls, press them and drain the syrup off. Transfer into the flavored California walnut milk. Garnish with saffron strands, pistachio flakes and crushed California walnuts. Serve chilled.

Old Bombay Nankhatai– Chef Varun Inamdar

Ingredients

1/2 cup ghee

1/2 cup powdered sugar

3/4 cup refined flour

1/4 cup California walnut powder

Pinch of salt

1 tablespoon semolina

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder

Glazing

2 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon powdered sugar

Preparation

In a mixing bowl ghee and powdered sugar, whip smooth for 10 minutes till it is soft, white, fluffy and creamy.
Add refined flour, walnut powder, salt, semolina and baking soda, cardamom powder.
Mix well and knead the dough combining with your hand. Do not over knead.
Roll into a baking sheet till the dough is 1 cm thick. Transfer onto a baking tray.
Cut into long rectangles.
Mix milk and sugar in a bowl and apply on top of the cut triangles using a brush.
Bake at 180°C for 10 minutes.
Remove the tray and allow the cake to cool completely.
Store in airtight container.