I came up with this recipe as I really wanted to incorporate some dried fruit with a normal / traditional barfi. I also wanted to try and make a healthy sweet, using natural sugars from the fruit and very little ghee. Traditionally Indian sweets are full of calories because of the amount of sugar and ghee that are used, so I wanted to create some thing which used the bare minimum of these ingredients. The other criteria I was trying to fulfil is to make a simple, easy and quick recipe. I chose apricots because of their taste and texture, not to mention the health benefits. Dried apricots are an excellent source of iron, vitamin A, high in fibre, potassium and low in fat. Apart from perhaps warding of cancer, heart disease and protecting eyesight, apricots also help increase the immune system as it is a good source of iron, which is essential for the renewal of red blood cells. These cells oxygenate the body, helping to stop feeling lethargic and tired. This is essential especially as the cold weather is setting in and days are starting to get shorter, we need to have feel good foods:)

Having decided on the fruit I started thinking about how to encase it and what other  ingredients, if any, to add. So I visualised the colour of the fruit and what other colours would go with it and what shape to give it etc. I just wanted to use the ingredients I had at home at the time. So I added some chocolate chips (which I now feel can be left out) and thought I would coat it with the barfi mixture with added flavour of cocoa. The triangle shape came about because this summer one of my husband’s aunties had given a gadget to make shaped mithai, which I wanted to use so that is why the shape is a triangular. The gadget is essential a V shaped long metal strip with a less than 90 degree bend along its length. Although the final shape I ended up making was by pressing roll of the mixture by hand into a triangle shape, so the strip of metal did not help in making the final shape. Everyone who has tried this sweet/mithai has loved and enjoyed it, so I am glad I thought out of the box and experimented with this sweet for diwali.

Golden Triangles

As mentioned above you can leave the chocolate chips if you don’t want to add it or do not have it. You may want to reduce the cocoa content to taste, as it is a little on the high side. I feel you can also make the same mithai with other fruit and/or nut centres, perhaps cranberries.

Ingredients

Preparation time: 1 hr    Cooking time: 30 mins plus overnight setting time    Makes: 55 – 60

1 lb of milk powder

8 oz sugar

6 – 8 heaped tbsps cocoa powder

3 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)

10 serving spoons milk

400 g dried apricots finely hopped or diced

100 g chocolate chips / drops

Method

1) Chop the apricots into small pieces, I used scissors to make it easy. In a bowl mix the apricot pieces and the chocolate chip together, keep aside.

2) To make the barfi mixture, in a large bowl mix the milk powder, cocoa powder, so that all the mixture is brown. Then add the ghee and milk , and mix this to a crumble consistency.

3) Put the sugar in a pan and add just enough cold water to cover the sugar and heat up.  Let the mixture boil so that the whole surface is covered with bubbles. Let the sugar and water mix for a minute or so after the entire area in covered with bubbles, remove from the heat and add it to the milk powder mixture and mix it thoroughly.  It should become a soft dough.

4) In a Swiss roll tray or on the work top, place some cling film and spread a thin layer of the barfi mixture evenly.  I press it down with the back of a bowl or any other flat utensil. In the middle place a few tablespoons of the apricot mixture all along the length of the barfi layer.

5) With the help of the cling film bring the two sides together over the apricot mixture, making sure to cover the entire surface. Wrap the cling film tightly over the mixture. On a flat surface with both hands press the mixture to create a rough triangle shape, keep on turning the sides until you have a smooth and even triangle shape like a bar of Toblerone chocolate. By pressing gently on the flat work surface you are creating the shape and also ensuring that there is no gap between the  apricot and barfi layers (it should be packed in not hollow, you will be able to feel it as you create the shape). Once the desired shape has been created place on a baking tray and place in the fridge over night to set into shape.

6) The following day or after a few hours cut into pieces with a thickness of about 1/2 cm. To store the barfi place it in an airtight container and refrigerate enjoy .

We made Weetabix Barfi for my son’s Diwali & Eid party at school. Making food should be fun, especially when doing it with children. I love recipes where my son can enjoy making it and at the same time he is learning all the time yet he thinks it is fun, because for a change I am letting him play with food We worked together as a team and he really enjoyed crushing the weetabix and biscuits, then mixing all the dry ingredients together. Learning about texture, size and how to measure ingredients together, are just a few of the things we talked about as we were making this easy sweet dish.

I have adopted this recipe to our taste from ‘The Ultimate Collection – A Vegetarian Cookbook’. The taste is a cross between a cereal bar and an Indian sweet.  I wanted to try this recipe as it seemed like an interesting mix of ingredients and felt kind of healthy because of the use of Weetabix, hence we made it as one of our Diwali sweets this year. In case you don’t know, Weetabix is a popular breakfast cereal – more info at Wikipedia here. It also goes by the name of Weet-bix.

Weetabix Barfi

I tweaked the recipe by reducing the amount of dessicated coconut and using chocolate flavoured Marie biscuits as opposed to the plain ones. When we made a second batch I also added some orange essence and dried orange zest, and it tasted good, so you can experiment with different flavours.

Ingredients

Preparation time: 30 to 40 mins      Setting time: overnight    Makes: 75 1” square pieces

220g Weetabix roughly crushed (this is 12 biscuits)

125g Marie biscuits roughly crushed

80g mixed nuts (I used almonds, pistachios & cashew) coarsely ground

50g dessicated coconut

2 tsp ground cinnamon powder

397g condensed milk (one can)

125g butter

1 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)

Method

1) Crush the Weetabix and Marie biscuits in a large bowl (we did it by hand). Grind the mixed nuts in a food processor and add to the bowl with the other two ingredients. To this add the remaining dry ingredients and mix well and keep aside.

2) Melt butter and ghee at low heat in a heavy bottom pan. Grease the thali or baking tray to be used and keep aside. Once the butter and ghee has melted add the condensed milk and mix switching off the heat. Once combined, pour over the dry ingredients and mix well.

3) Spread and press the mixture into the greased tray. I used the back of a small flat bottomed bowl to do this after initially using my hand to spread it evenly in the tray. Leave overnight to set fully and cut into pieces, store in an air tight container in the fridge. It keeps well for about a month (if it lasts long enough and not eaten), enjoy

I came across this sweet dish about 4 to 5 years back. The name was very unusual for a sweet dish -  Kesar means saffron and Mani in Sanskrit means gem. The taste was a combination of a few traditional sweets, a crunchy yet melt in the mouth texture all at the same time. Ever since then I wanted to try and make it at home, but I had no-one to teach me or tell me all the specific ingredients.

As I have mentioned before, I recently got a couple of recipe books from Kenya, ‘ The Ultimate Collection – A Vegetarian Cookbook’ and ‘Exotic Flavours – Cuisine With Class’. I looked at the recipe given for Kesar Mani from each book and then decided to try it out. The ingredients from both books were similar, so I combined their ingredients and had a go. The first attempt needed a little extra sweetness and some more spice I felt. So I tweaked the recipes slightly and came up with the version below.

I had made this dish over the summer for one of my husband’s friends for his wedding, but I thought it would be good to post it on Radiance Recipes now when people would make or like to try out new sweets for Diwali. This is a good sweet to indulge in for those special occasions.

Kesar Mani

The key to the success of this recipe is preparation. Make sure that you have all the ingredients ready and measured before you start the recipe. One of the recipe books did not add the thin vermicelli, I guess if you don’t like it or do not have it then you can leave it out. You can use rose petals and crushed vermicelli for decoration as well as the flaked almonds and pistachios.

Ingredients

Preparation time: 45 mins    Cooking time (plus overnight setting time): 1 hr    Makes: 1 kg (40 pieces)

150 g gram flour (chickpea flour)

150 g milk powder

100 g thin vermicelli roasted

120 g fine dessicated coconut

200 g almonds coarsely ground

100 g each pistachios and cashew nuts coarsely ground

150 g gund (gum arabica ) crushed

400 g icing sugar

380 g ghee (clarified butter)

4 tsp taj (cinnamon) powder

2 tsp elaichi (cardamom) powder

1 g kesar (saffron) lightly crushed (keep some aside for decoration)

Flaked almonds & pistachios & saffron for decoration

Method

1) Measure all the ingredients and keep aside. Grind the nuts coarsely and keep aside. Dry roast the roughly broken vermicelli  to a golden colour, cool and keep aside. Grease the thalis or baking trays that you are going to use to set the kesar mani and keep aside.

2) In a large heavy bottom pan on a medium heat, place little more then half of the ghee. To this add the gram flour and roast until it becomes a light pink or golden brown, making sure to stir continuously. You can add a little more ghee if you feel it is to dry (too much will just make the flour bubble up rather then roasting properly). When the aroma from the flour is released add the gund a little at a time waiting for it to pop before you add more.

3) Switch off the heat and add the crushed nuts, milk powder, dessicated coconut, a large pinch of kesar, spices and remaining ghee, mix well until all the ingredients have blended. When a little more cooler add the icing sugar and roasted vermicelli combine all the ingredients until well blended. The texture will be a little like coarse wet sand and will hold its shape if made into a ball.

4) Split the mixture into the greased thalis or baking trays about an inch deep and press down with the back of a small bowl or your hands. Once the mixture is packed in and smooth sprinkle with the decoration and lightly press down again. Cover and leave to set over night in a cool dry place. The next morning cut into 1 inch squares. You will have to gently wiggle the pieces before lifting them clear of the thali. Store in air tight containers in the fridge. It will keep for a few weeks, if they’re not eaten by then

It has become a kind of tradition for our family for the past few years to go strawberry picking during the season.  Especially since my son and nieces have arrived, it is so much fun watching them enjoy themselves, picking and eating the strawberries. When my son was one and a half years old, he went for the first time, he had such a good time, eating the juicy red sweet strawberries, his face was covered and he smelled sweet for the rest of the day. This year we made a family day out as both my brother in-law and husband joined us, as a result we picked so many strawberries and decided to make a few things with them. So the first thing was to make ice cream with the children, combining their love of the fruit and everyone’s favourite – ice cream. All three children had their share of  helping prepare the ingredients and then mixing them in the machine and felt important that they had a part in making it. Doing such an activity is a great way to teach them how things grow and how they are made into the end product which they enjoy so much.

Strawberry ice cream

We have a ice cream maker which we used, however if you do not have one then you can mix the mixture in a blender and then freeze it.

Ingredients

Preparation time: 30 mins plus making and freezing time     Serves: 8 to 10

568 g double cream

4 cups chopped strawberry

1/4 cup sugar

Method

1) Wash and chop the strawberries to small cubes, add the sugar, this will depend on the sweetness of the strawberries and you can adjust your quantity of sugar.

2) Whip the cream with half of the chopped strawberries until it thickens into a dropping consistency.

3) Place the mixture into the ice cream machine and mix at regular intervals or as per the instructions of the ice cream machine. If you do not have a machine then you can make the ice cream by placing the whipped mixture in a container and place in the freezer for 20 minutes. Remove and mix for 5 minutes and place in the freezer again for 10 minutes. Repeat the process a couple of times and you are ready to serve.

I have lots of fond memories of Easter when I was young because we would go away for short breaks to lake Malawi. Then when we moved to Birmingham from Malawi, Easter would mean coming over to London to visit relatives. All of us getting together, keeping in touch and having wonderful food, with lots of chocolate of course!! So exchanging easter eggs became a new tradition for us. After the initial binging on the easter eggs we would find creative ways of using the remaining chocolate.

Recently we went visiting relatives and in a conversation we were having, as the children were given easter eggs, was – “how much we pay for a hollow egg – just chocolate !  It should be filled ??!!”. My cousin (Raju) and I were talking about it and she mentioned a conversation she had with her son Rushil about how to make a filled easter egg. So this recipe is his patent idea! I loved his idea of making pistachio barfi and then coating it with chocolate. As I got thinking about it more, I thought let me give his idea a go and this year give everyone home made easter eggs. So I made orange flavoured barfi then coated them with chocolate and placed them on crunchy nests made with chocolate covered cornflakes. The result – wonderful fun thing to do with children over easter and the taste match made in heaven – orange and chocolate

Barfi Easter Eggs on Chocolate Cornflakes Nests

I used the same basic recipe of barfi that I made before here, and used cooking and milk chocolate. Having made it I think in the future I will experiment with the chocolate and perhaps use a plain or dark chocolate. I did everything by hand, but if you have moulds then you will get a more professional finish.

Ingredients

Preparation time: 45 mins          Cooking time: 20 mins         Makes: roughly 50 eggs

450 g of milk powder

225 g sugar

3 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)

10 serving spoons milk

4 tbsp dried orange zest

3 tbsp orange essence

200 g milk chocolate melted

100 g plain cooking chocolate melted

140 g cornflakes

Method

To make the barfi eggs

1) Put the sugar in a pan and add just enough cold water to cover the sugar and heat up.  Add the orange zest and essense, let the mixture boil so that the whole surface is covered with bubbles. While that is cooking, in a large bowl mix the milk powder, ghee and milk to crumble consistency.

2) Let the sugar and water mix for a minute or so after the entire area is covered with bubbles, remove from the heat and add it to the milk powder mixture and mix it thoroughly.  It should become a soft dough.

3) Once the dough is ready shape into different sized egg shapes. Leave it for a few hours until it sets. You may need to put it in the fridge to help it set.

4) In the mean time melt the chocolate in a bowl over some simmering water. Stir to ensure there are no lumps, if they do occur then add some butter or oil to the chocolate and stir it in until smooth.

5) Once the barfi is solid enough, place them one at a time in the melted chocolate, and remove with a fork.  Shake off the excess chocolate and place on baking tray lined with grease proof paper. Refrigerate to let it set.

To make the Cornflakes nests

6) Place the cornflakes in the remaining melted chocolate, mix until all the cornflakes are covered.

7) To create nest shapes, fill some muffin cases with the chocolate covered cornflakes leaving a dip in middle which will aleter be filled with the barfi eggs. Leave to set for a few hours.

After everything is set you are ready to place the eggs in the nests and share with everyone, enjoy

I have had this recipe since 2004 from one of my husband’s aunt. She makes an eggless cake using yoghurt and it has a lighter texture compare to the other cake recipe posted earlier. My mother-in-law really likes this cake and so I thought I would try it out finally this year for her birthday. I asked my husband to help me, but I was so busy with preparing the other meals that he actually ended up making the cake. So I said to him I will tell everyone that you made it. To this he said lets wait and see how it turns out, if it is good then you can tell everyone otherwise no. Well it was wonderful, however the only thing was that despite following the recipe we both felt you could smell and taste the bicarbonate of soda powder.

I made the cake again a few days later, this time with my son’s help, and reduced the bicarbonate of soda powder and it was perfect, so that is the recipe I am giving you. I find it so amazing when I hear of or see different recipes for eggless cakes, how inventive people can be, and it also shows you can make good cakes without using eggs.

Eggless Yoghurt Cake

Another option is that you can add dried fruit or chocolate to this basic recipe. As I have just tried the basic recipe I cannot say how they work out. I used home made natural yoghurt for the recipe, you can use shop bought but make sure its the live natural variety. The consistency should be about medium, not too thick, not too runny. If you feel the consistency is too thick then you can add a few table spoons of yoghurt or water to get the correct consistency.

Ingredients

Preparation time: 15 mins       Cooking time: 30 to 45 mins       Serves: 10

250g self raising flour

200g sugar

8 oz yoghurt

50 g butter

1/2 bicarbonate of soda powder

1 tsp vanilla essence

2to 3 tbsp dessicated coconut

Method

1) Pre heat the oven at 180′C, grease and line a 9 inch cake tin.

2) In a large bowl mix the butter and sugar, just enough to get a bread crumb consistency. Then add the yoghurt and vanilla essence and mix.

3) Add the remaining ingredients and mix well, once the consistency is correct pour into the cake tin a bake for 30 to 40 mins at 180′C, the top of the cake should be a golden brown colour. Cool slightly and cut into pieces ready to serve.