Balushahi
Abhipriya Raghav
A delicious sweet, dunked in sugar syrup, which is crisp and flaky on the outside and soft on the inside.
Prep Time 40 minutes mins
Cook Time 1 hour hr
Total Time 1 hour hr 40 minutes mins
Course Dessert, Sweets
Cuisine Indian
For the dough
- 3 cups all-purpose flour / maida
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup ghee
- 1/4 cup curd, chilled
- cold water, to knead the dough
- ghee / oil, for frying
For the sugar syrup
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
- a pinch of saffron
- some lemon juice, optional
- pistachios / almonds silvered, for garnishing
To prepare the dough
In a mixing bowl, add maida / all purpose flour, salt and baking soda. Mix well.
Add ghee and incorporate it with the flour mixture well.
Add yogurt to the flour mixture and mix well.
Add cold water and knead to make a soft dough.
Cover and let it rest for 30 minutes.
To make the sugar syrup
In a kadai or pan on heat, add sugar and water and let the sugar melt.
Add saffron strands to the sugar syrup.
Add cardamom powder to the syrup. Boil the sugar syrup until it reaches a single thread consistency. Turn off the heat.
To prepare balushahi
Divide the dough into 18-20 equal sized balls.
Press each dough ball in the middle with your thumb.
Heat ghee/oil in a kadai on low heat.
When the oil is hot, add each dough ball and fry them on low heat until golden-brown on all sides.
Dip each fried ball in the warm sugar syrup and remove onto a plate.
Let it rest for sometime and serve with some silvered pistachios or almonds.
- Add ghee which is at room temperature to the flour mixture.
- Add chilled yogurt to make the dough.
- While kneading, add ice cold water to form a smooth dough.
- Boil the sugar syrup until it reaches a single thread consistency. (To check for single thread consistency, take some syrup onto the spoon and press some between your index and thumb finger. It should form a thread when the fingers are released apart.)
- While making the sugar syrup, add some lemon juice to avoid crystallization of sugar when cooled down.
- Divide the dough into uniform balls.
- You can also flatten each dough ball if you want to.
- While frying the dough balls, make sure that the ghee or oil is not too hot. Fry them on low heat.
- Do not overcrowd the pan. Fry the balls in batches.
- Keep in mind that each dough ball will expand when fried. So fry them accordingly.
- You can also flatten each dough ball to a very thick disc before frying.
- Each batch will take around 25-30 minutes to fry.
- Always ensure that the ghee is on low heat to make sure that both the inside and the outside is cooked well.
- Dip the fried balls in warm sugar syrup and let it rest for sometime before serving.
Keyword badhusha, balushahi, dessert, indian, navrathri, sweet, sweets