What is balushahi

Balushahi is one of the most popular and delicious sweets that are served at any festival in India.Balushahi is also called Badusha in some places. It’s my favourite sweet and I like to take it as it’s original form… flakey, little crisp from outside and soft layers inside with ghee and cardamom flavour. My recipe yields balushahi exactly like store-bought.

We can make them with very few basic ingredients like all-purpose flour, ghee or clarified butter, yoghurt and some sugar syrup.

Recipe

Preparation time:45 min

Cooking time: 30 min/batch+ 20 min to make sugar syrup

Difficulty level: Medium

Serves: 16 balushahi

Ingredients

• 2 cup  All-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup  Ghee or clarified butter
• 1/4th teaspoon Baking powder
• 1/4th teaspoon Baking soda
• 1 pinch of Salt
• 1/2 cup  Yogurt
• 2-3 tablespoon  cold water
• 2 tablespoon  crushed Pistachio and dry rose patels for garnishing
• 2 cups  Vegetable oil or Ghee to deep fry
• For Sugar Syrup
• 2 cup  Sugar
• 1 cup  Water
• 1 teaspoon  Cardamom powder
• 1 teaspoon  Lemon juice

Steps

For sugar syrup take 2 cups of sugar and 1 cup of water in a saucepan.

Place in stove top and bring to boil.

Add cardamom powder when sugar dissolves completely.

Cook the syrup until one string consistency.

Keep aside. The consistency of sugar is very important, it should flow like a string when drop with a spatula.

Now for the balushahi place maida or all purpose flour, baking power, baking soda and ghee in a mixing bowl.

Using your fingers and palm mix all the ingredients in such a way that the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

Add 1/2 cup yoghurt to the mixture.Mix yoghurt well to the flour mixture.

With 2-3 tablespoon of cold water combine the mixture to form a rough dough. Don’t knead the mixture, just add water to combine.

Cover the dough and keep aside for atleast 1/2 an hour.

After 1/2 an hour, take the dough and divide into two parts.

Place one portion of dough over the other one.

Again divide the dough into two and place one portion over the other. These are necessary to form the layers.

Do the same process again, but don’t try to knead the dough. Just place one portion over the other.

layering 4 times like that take small lime size portion of the dough and make a rough patty with little impression of thumb in the center.

Similarly make all the balushahis. We can make approximately 16 -17 balushahi out of this dough.

Heat vegetable shortening or ghee in a deep pan.

Slide balushahi to slight hot oil. I placed 8 balushahi in one batch. They should completely deep in oil.

In low heat fry them. For 1st 10 minutes don’t stir the balushahi.

After 12-13 minutes flip the balushahi with a spatula.

Fry them in low heat by flipping both sides until light golden brown.

After frying them for 30 minutes in low heat I transferred them in a kitchen towel.

When the balushahis cool a little bit, dunk them to sugar syrup.They should completely sink in syrup.

Keep in the syrup for 20-25 minutes so that balushahi can soak syrup upto it’s centre.

After 20- 25 minutes transfer the sweets to a dish.

In the same way fry the remaining balushahi and soak them in syrup.

Transfer in a dish garnish with some crushed pistachios, dry rose patels and serve.