Balushahi is one of the most popular sweet dishes in Indian sub continent. You have definitely noticed this sweet food at many sweet shops in Northern Indian states. Is it not true? It is a flour made deep fried item dipped in sugar syrup. This sweet item is often garnished with dry fruits. It is a very special sweet to me and like many others I love this Balushahi sweet dish a lot.
But if I say that it is only famous in North Indian then it would be wrong. It is also popular some other parts in India. There are a few other similar sweet dishes available across the country. Bhadushah is also one of such sweet dish which is popular in South Indian states like Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Kerala & Karnataka. Did you ever try that? It is almost same sweet dish like balushahi.
Even sometimes I feel Bengali sweet dish Goja is similar to balushahi. Though there are two different types of goja available in Bengal. One is prepared with cottage cheese (chhana/paneer) and another one is all purpose flour made (without cottage cheese/chhaana/paneer) goja. Second one can be called as similar to Balushahi sweet dish.
This balushahi sweet is often served to Lord Krishna on the occasion of Janmashtami.
But do you know the origin of this Balushahi sweet? I do not have any idea. I have searched on internet for its origin but did not get any information. But as it is called as Balu-Shahi, shahi term indicate that this sweet dish probably developed during Mughal period. What do you say?
Balushahi sweet recipe
- 1.5 cup all purpose flour
- ¼ cup ghee (or less)
- Pinches of baking powder
- Pinches of salt
- Water as needed
- ½ cup Refined oil (for deep frying)
- ⅔ cup sugar
- ½ cup water
- 2 cardamoms, whole
- 8-10 sticks saffron
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice, optional
- A few fine pieces of cashew nuts/ pistachio/almond/raisins etc
- Mix all purpose flour, ghee, baking powder & salt properly
- Now add water and try to make dough but it should not be soft, add little more water if ti is too hard (do not press the dough forcefully with your palm rather try to pull that dough from both side with your hands and make two parts then combine again, repeat it again & again)
- Spread ghee over the dough and rest it for atleast 30 mins
- Boil water and then add roughly mashed cardamoms and wait for 30 seconds
- Now pour sugar and stir it continuously till sugar dissolved in water completely
- Add saffron & lemon juice and boil till sugar syrup becomes sticky (spread a few drops of syrup on a plate and incline it at 45 degree angle & check whether those drop are still sticky)
- Now keep that syrup in a separate bowl
- Make 12-13 small balls with that flour made dough and keep one of those balls on your palm and press with another hand to flatten that ball
- Press in the middle of that with your fingers from both sides to make holes
- Now heat enough oil in cooking pot (kadai) and cook those over low flame till both sides of those balushahi turns into light brown
- Now put those fried stuff into that sugar syrup for atleast 1 hour or more
- Serve those hot or at normal temperature (garnish those with any nuts of your choice)
How to make balushahi sweet dish?
Take all purpose flour, baking powder, ghee & salt in a large pot
Mix all and add water to make hard dough. Do not press the dough too forcefully, rather pull the dough with your hands from two sides and tear then combine it, repeat it again and again
Spread ghee over the dough and rest for atleast 30 mins
Make small balls with that flour made dough
Take one of those small balls on your palm and press it with palm of another hand, so that it becomes flattened. Press the middle of that flattened item with your finger from the both sides.
Now let’s prepare sugar syrup. First heat water in a large bowl. Add crushed cardamoms and boil again.
Now pour sugar and allow it to start boiling
Now add a few sticks of saffron and lemon juice. You can avoid lemon juice but it helps to prepare perfect sugar syrup for balushahi sweet.
Okay, now let’s fry balushahi sweet. Heat oil in a cooking pot (kadai) and wait till oil become hot then reduce its flame to low.
Add flour made flattened balushahi into the oil and fry over low flame.
Once it becomes light brown or golden color then take those fried items from the oil and add it into the sugar syrup. Wait till next 1-2 hours to absorb syrup.
Garnish it with any dry fruits of your choice. Though mostly it is served with a few broken pieces of pistachio but here I served it with cashew nuts.
Try these sweets too: Bengali style taler bora, Bihari style sattu laddu, Bengali fruit chatni
So do you want to try balushahi sweet at home? It is simple & super delicious too.
Leave a Reply