Basundi

Basundi is an Indian dessert mostly in bihar, Maharashtra, Gujrath and Karnataka. It is a sweetened dense milk made by boiling milk on low heat until the milk is reduced by half.
I recently had it when i had gone to visit my cousins in Mysore  It was so yummy that the taste of it just did not let me forget the dish and i decided to  try making it. Well this was the first time i made and it turned out to be delicious. This is a must try recipe :)

Ingredients

Whole Milk – 500 ml
Sugar – 2 tbsp (approx) - (you can add less)
Saffron strands – 3-4 (a small pinch of yellow food colour also can be used)
Milk maid – 1 tbsp (optional) - i skipped this
Almonds – 7-8 (sliced or grated)


Method

Pour the milk in a wide mouthed non stick pan. Boil the milk on high flame. Once it gets a single boil lower the flame to the least and let it cook till the milk reduces by half. Keep stirring in between so that the milk does not stick to the sides and bottom of the pan. Once the milk is reduced to half add sugar and check for sweetness. Adjust the sugar according to your taste. Add saffron strands diluted in 1 tsp of warm milk. If you are adding milk maid add it at this stage and give it a stir. The consistency should be slightly creamy. Take off the heat and garnish it with almonds. Serve hot or cold.


My Notes

ü  The amount of sugar can be adjusted according to your taste. If you are adding milk maid make sure you add little less sugar as milkmaid also will contain some amount of sugar in it.

ü  When the milk is reduced to ¼ instead of ½ it is called Rabadi in north India.

ü  You can use other nuts also for garnishing.

ü  There will be cream (Malai) that would be forming as the milk is cooking. Just give it a stir and add it back to the milk.