Editor's note: These instructions for how to make barfi are excerpted from Julie Sahni's book Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking. Sahni also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page.
This fudge is made with cashew nuts that have been soaked in water. The nuts are drained, ground to a paste, and cooked with sugar until the mixture reaches a fudge consistency. This technique, popular with Marharashtrians in southwestern India, produces a soft, chewy fudge with a grainy texture.
Note: Almonds, pistachios, or walnuts may be substituted for the cashews.
Barfi is a popular candy in India. It's often decorated with edible silver leaf (called vark or varq), real silver that's been hammered into sheets so tissue-thin that they are harmless to ingest. Sold sandwiched between two pieces of paper due to its extreme fragility, silver leaf is available at cake-decorating and Indian grocery stores. To apply it, peel off one piece of paper and position the vark over the food, metal-side down. Gently press the vark onto the food, then peel off the other piece of paper.
Recipe information
Yield
Makes about 3 dozen pieces
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Place the cashew nuts in a bowl. Pour boiling water over them to cover, and soak for 1 hour. Drain the nuts, put them in the container of an electric blender or food processor, and reduce them to a fine paste (adding a little milk or water if the paste begins to clog).
Step 2
Grease a 9-inch-square baking pan, or mark and grease a 9-inch-square section of a cookie sheet.
Step 3
Heat a non-stick frying pan (at least 9 inches in diameter) over medium heat for 2 minutes. Add the nut paste and the sugar. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring and scraping the sides and bottom of the pan constantly with a flat spatula for 20 minutes or until the fudge is thick and sticky. Stir in the butter.
Step 4
Pour the fudge into the greased pan or onto the greased square of cookie sheet. Spread it evenly by patting it gently with the spatula. Let it cool thoroughly.
Step 5
When cool, brush the top with the rose water, and let it dry briefly. Press the silver foil over the fudge, and cut 1 1/2-inch-square or diamond-shaped pieces, using a knife dipped in cold water.
Step 6
Note: This fudge keeps well, if stored tightly sealed, at room temperature for 3 weeks and for several months in the refrigerator.
