Best part about festivals or celebrations ??
My reply, Without any second thoughts would be good food , delicious desserts and best company.
And a known fact to many , I am a sucker for desserts especially Indian Mithai. Bringing home the cold stored sweets is so not me ( no offense to anyone) rather would prefer to slave and indulge in self made ones.
Such was an attempt towards this South Indian delicacy for this upcoming festive season.
Badusha is familiar to North Indians as Balushahi whereas popular as Makkan Peda in parts of Telangana state. With just three main ingredients, these deep fried sugar syrup dunked flour donuts are crispy on the outside, moist, tender and flaky on the inside, serving a texture contrast to your palate.
Ingredients required for Balushahi :
Yields : 18 to 20
- 3 cups : All Purpose Flour / Maida
- 100 gm : Butter ( softened at room temperature not melted )
- 1 tsp : Baking powder
- A pinch of baking soda
- Water as needed
- Oil for deep frying
For sugar syrup :
- 3 cups : sugar
- 1 cup : water
- 1/2 tsp : cardamom powder or a pinch of saffron
Method :
Sift the all purpose flour, baking powder and baking soda together and take them out to a wide bowl.
Add the softened butter to the sifted flour.
Mix well to incorporated. This results in crumbly texture similar to short crust.
Knead this to a tight dough adding little water at time.
Cover it with a lid and set aside for 20 minutes.
For sugar syrup : Meanwhile to another wide bowl add sugar , water & bring this to a boil until it forms one string consistency.
Turn off the heat, add saffron or cardamom powder to preference, Cover and set aside.
Pinch out 18 portions of the dough.
Roll them round between your palms, Lightly press and flatten.
Make dents in the centre using your index and thumb as shown below.
- Both on the surface and the bottom of the Peda
On the other side start heating oil in a pan for deep frying, on medium heat.
- Shape all the Peda's similarly.
Deep fry three to four at a time on medium heat.
- The Peda's initially sit and start raising to the top of the oil as they get fried.
- Flip them over in intervals and continue frying.
Allow them to turn golden brown on both the sides.
Remove the fried with slotted spoon, draining the excess oil.
Add them to the prepared sugar syrup.
Repeat and cook the rest similarly.
Give the Peda’s a minimum hour of soaking time , garnish with chopped nuts of choice and Enjoy !
Few pointers :
- The butter used has to soft to touch neither melted nor hard.
- The dough has to be stiff and tight. I used approx. 3/4 cup of water in its dough making. As every flour acts differently just observe its texture and knead accordingly.
- Rest the dough for a min of 20 minutes just to relax the gluten.
- The sugar syrup has to form a string consistency neither thin or thick. If its thin the Balushahi will turn soggy and if its too thick it wouldn't get absorbed.
- Fry the Balushahi at medium heat, do not rush as they wouldn't get cooked from inside and result in doughy insides.
- After adding to the oil, Balushahi initially sit at the bottom of the pan and gradually float on top as they get cooked. Observe the pics shared for reference.
- Fry three to four Balushahi at a time. Frying more numbers at a time can lower the oil temperature which might yield hard Balushahi rather than flaky ones.
- Soak the fried in syrup for at least an hour.
Give this simple yet delicious dessert a try and do share your feedback with me :)
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