Basundhi - Diwali Special/How to make easy and delicious Basundhi

Basundhi is sweetened and thickened milk garnished with different types of chopped nuts and flavoured with cardamom, saffron and nutmeg powder.  Basundhi is a very popular dessert in western part of India, especially in Maharashtra and Gujarat. It is a very special sweet prepared during Diwali, raksha bandhan, gudi padwa, holi and other festivals. Basundhi is also served as dessert in weddings and other special occasions. Please try out this delectable Basundhi and post your comments here. Meanwhile do check out other Diwali Sweets and Diwali Snacks here.

Here’s how to make Basundhi with step by step photos...

Ingredients

Milk [full fat milk/whole milk]	5 cups
Sweetened Condensed Milk	1 tin/400 gms
Elachi/Cardamom	5-6 powdered
Cashew nuts	12-15 chopped
Pistachios	12-15 chopped
Almonds/Badam	12-15 chopped
Saffron	7-8 strands
Nutmeg powder	One big pinch

Preparation time: 10 minutes      

Cooking time: 40 minutes

Serves: 12 -15

Method

Pour milk and condensed milk to a heavy bottomed vessel or kadai and mix really well.

Switch on the stove and heat the milk mixture in high flame. Once it comes to boil, reduce flame to low and allow to simmer, stirring it regular intervals. Make sure it does not get browned or burnt from bottom.

The mixture would begin to thicken. Scrape the milk solids at regular intervals from the sides of the kadai/pan and mix it back to the basundhi mixture.

It takes about 35-40 minutes to make basundhi on low flame. When it is thick enough switch off the stove.  

Add the chopped nuts, nutmeg powder, elachi powder and saffron to the basundhi and mix.

Super tempting, delicious and finger-licking Basundhi is ready to be enjoyed. Transfer to serving bowls and serve it warm or chill it in refrigerator and serve it cold.

Suggestions:

I have used full fat milk for rich, creamy flavour. You can use 2 % milk to make basundhi but it will be less creamy.

Always use only heavy bottomed vessel to make bausndhi.

I have used milk maid you can very well replace it with sugar. If you are using sugar, boil the milk really well for 15-20 minutes then add 1/4 cup of sugar and boil in low flame for 40-45 minutes.

Another important thing when making basundhi is - keep stirring and do not leave the milk on stove and leave the kitchen.

I have blanched almonds and then chopped them before adding which is totally optional. You can chop them as such and add it to basundhi.

You can refrigerate the basundhi for 4-7 days.

If you are serving basundhi chilled, reduce the boiling time of the milk mixture to just 20 minutes, as basundhi will thicken on cooling.

Thank you all for visiting my space, please come back again for more interesting and delightful sweet varieties from my kitchen.

If you find this post really interesting, it will really be nice if you can share it with your face book fans or twitter friends or pin in or google + cirlces today. I will be very happy if you can join as google follower, all it takes is just one click. All of this means a lot to me and a great encouragement as well.

Have a great day and enjoy.

Until then I am signing off…