I have a confession to make. For some reason, I am not a fan of store bought khava or khoya or mawa or whatever you call the fancy concoction that you get by cooking milk down on low flame for eternity until the moisture has completely evaporated and all you are left with is milk solids. The store bought variety has a very weird color and smell to it that is not appealing to my palate. Neither am I am not a fan of either baby sitting milk and stirring it till my arms and feet ache. So what are my choices then, if I want to make homemade burfi?
After researching multiple options, I landed upon Ricotta cheese, which is the Italian cousin of our very own Desi Paneer. However, unlike Paneer, Ricotta cheese has a creamy and soft texture as the water left behind by curdling milk is not entirely squeezed away like Paneer. Accordingly to Organic Valley's website: "It is prepared by boiling whole and nonfat milk before adding vinegar and a touch of salt. Good Ricotta is firm but not solid, and consists of a mass of fine, moist, delicate granules."
I liked the consistency of Sandesh, a Bengali sweet made by Paneer. An innovative aunt had shared her burfi recipe using ricotta cheese, eons ago. I had stashed it away in one of my old recipe books. When occasion called for it, I decided to grab it with both hands, re-vamp it and make it my own. My version pleased both our palates and our guests. Here's how it goes:
Two-Layered Chocolate Burfi
15 oz (425 g) container of Ricotta Cheese (Any brand or you can make it homemade)
2 sticks or 16 Tbsp (227 g) Butter
2 cups Sugar
Rose essence
1/2 cup Chocolate Morsels
Sliced Almonds
Ghee
1) Grease a 9x13" pan with ghee. Line the pan with parchment paper such that the parchment paper hangs over the two opposite sides of the pan.
2) In a deep sauce pan or wok or kadai add 1/2 of the Ricotta Cheese, 1 cup sugar, 1 stick of butter and stir it together on medium to low flame.
3) Stir gently until the mixture is thoroughly incorporated into a semi-liquid form. Keep stirring until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan and mixture is in spreadable form. Add Rose essence and mix.
4) Spread the mixture into the prepared pan to form an even layer. Allow it to cool down completely. (About 30 mins)
5) Fill a small saucepan about one quarter way through with water and set to boil. Keep a heat-safe glass bowl that comfortably sits on top of this saucepan. When you select a bowl to sit on top of the sauce pan, ensure that it fits snugly and that there are no gaps allowing the heat from the boiling water to escape.
6) While the water is boiling measure your chocolate morsels. Once the water boils, switch off the heat, place the chocolate morsels in the heat-safe glass bowl and gently stir it around until the chocolate melts.
7) Mix together remaining half Ricotta Cheese, 1 cup sugar, 1 stick butter and melted chocolate in the same kadai/wok/sauce pan as before. And repeat the stirring process, until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan and is in spreadable form.
8) Spread the chocolate mixture on top of the white layer evenly to create two seperate layers.
9) Sprinkle sliced almonds on top and gently press it into the hot chocolate layer.
10) Allow the entire burfi to cool and then refrigerate. Cut into desired shape (square, diamond or circle) and serve at room temperature.
Enjoy!
Tip(s):
1) If you do not have chocolate morsels or chips, use whole chocolate and cut them up into chucks.
2) This recipe makes a lot of burfis. So if you are not feeding a crowd, you can make a small batch by halving all the ingredients.
After researching multiple options, I landed upon Ricotta cheese, which is the Italian cousin of our very own Desi Paneer. However, unlike Paneer, Ricotta cheese has a creamy and soft texture as the water left behind by curdling milk is not entirely squeezed away like Paneer. Accordingly to Organic Valley's website: "It is prepared by boiling whole and nonfat milk before adding vinegar and a touch of salt. Good Ricotta is firm but not solid, and consists of a mass of fine, moist, delicate granules."
I liked the consistency of Sandesh, a Bengali sweet made by Paneer. An innovative aunt had shared her burfi recipe using ricotta cheese, eons ago. I had stashed it away in one of my old recipe books. When occasion called for it, I decided to grab it with both hands, re-vamp it and make it my own. My version pleased both our palates and our guests. Here's how it goes:
Two-Layered Chocolate Burfi
15 oz (425 g) container of Ricotta Cheese (Any brand or you can make it homemade)
2 sticks or 16 Tbsp (227 g) Butter
2 cups Sugar
Rose essence
1/2 cup Chocolate Morsels
Sliced Almonds
Ghee
1) Grease a 9x13" pan with ghee. Line the pan with parchment paper such that the parchment paper hangs over the two opposite sides of the pan.
2) In a deep sauce pan or wok or kadai add 1/2 of the Ricotta Cheese, 1 cup sugar, 1 stick of butter and stir it together on medium to low flame.
3) Stir gently until the mixture is thoroughly incorporated into a semi-liquid form. Keep stirring until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan and mixture is in spreadable form. Add Rose essence and mix.
4) Spread the mixture into the prepared pan to form an even layer. Allow it to cool down completely. (About 30 mins)
5) Fill a small saucepan about one quarter way through with water and set to boil. Keep a heat-safe glass bowl that comfortably sits on top of this saucepan. When you select a bowl to sit on top of the sauce pan, ensure that it fits snugly and that there are no gaps allowing the heat from the boiling water to escape.
6) While the water is boiling measure your chocolate morsels. Once the water boils, switch off the heat, place the chocolate morsels in the heat-safe glass bowl and gently stir it around until the chocolate melts.
7) Mix together remaining half Ricotta Cheese, 1 cup sugar, 1 stick butter and melted chocolate in the same kadai/wok/sauce pan as before. And repeat the stirring process, until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan and is in spreadable form.
8) Spread the chocolate mixture on top of the white layer evenly to create two seperate layers.
9) Sprinkle sliced almonds on top and gently press it into the hot chocolate layer.
10) Allow the entire burfi to cool and then refrigerate. Cut into desired shape (square, diamond or circle) and serve at room temperature.
Enjoy!
Tip(s):
1) If you do not have chocolate morsels or chips, use whole chocolate and cut them up into chucks.
2) This recipe makes a lot of burfis. So if you are not feeding a crowd, you can make a small batch by halving all the ingredients.
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