Do you like fudge? Yes, read on! No – what the heck’s wrong with you? Okay just kidding but this is the Indian version of fudge. It is called Burfi, and this is a recipe for Chocolate Burfi. You must have seen this before if you’ve ever been to an Indian restaurant that has a buffet offering. It’s usually available on the sweet table. It is made with Khoya which you can buy ready made in any Indian grocery store or you can make. I had neither option available to me as making it really isn’t worth the effort and on Monday’s the Indian grocery store by me is closed. So, I did the next best thing – ad libbed (I know, it’s not a word) using a quasi-khoya mixture (try saying that 5 times fast!).
The best place to buy Burfi is at an Indian sweet shop and there are tons with most Indian grocers having a small section dedicated to sweets. You want to completely send your body into diabetic shock, go into an Indian sweet shop that sells only sweets – yikes! Burfi comes in a variety of flavors. Mango, Pistachio, some come wrapped in edible silver or gold leaf. No matter how you slice it, it is a little slice of heaven in every bite. Like most Indian sweets, it does require stirring (remember my mum’s neon pink coconut toffee recipe – check it out on this site), but well worth it. About how long varies on the temperature you keep it at and how fast it separates from the sides of the container while you are stirring it. Did I mention you need to constantly stir this. Will it be ruined if you don’t achieve the perfect cook – no it will just be fudgy and probably won’t set as nice as it should – but oh so delicious. The second time you make it, you will know better.
You want to cook the chocolate portion until smooth. By that I mean you want the grains of sugar in the mixture to melt – so grab a drink (and a long straw!) at this stage and get ready to stir. This process of stirring brings back so many memories of mum and I making Christmas sweets. When I thought my hands were falling off from stirring, she’d say “just a little bit more, I can see it’s almost ready”. I knew she was lying, but then she’d offer to take over and stir. A good offer except that she had such limited mobility and strength, she would barely be able to move the spoon in the thickening paste, but she would most definitely try given the opportunity. Oh she was so good at keeping me on my toes! Love her dearly!
Okay back to the recipe. I used Churn 84 instead of ghee. This is European style butter and the original recipe from the NY Times Cooking site suggested using butter if ghee was unavailable. I have ghee, I never run out of ghee. Ghee is just clarified (melted) butter with the milk solids removed, so it made sense to use a higher fat content butter (like Churn 84) to produce richness and depth in the finished product. So if you don’t have ghee at home, use melted butter. So try this recipe – maybe 1 hour of effort with about 1 hour cooling time between layers. It is rich, so just a small piece please. I want to share plenty more recipes with you! As always – enjoy!
⅔ cup ghee (or melted Churn 84 butter) – plus 1 generous tbsp. more – not melted
1 tablespoon good quality cocoa powder
⅔ cup sugar
2 cans sweetened condensed milk (300ml each)
2 cups milk powder – I used skim milk powder, but full fat would really work best
1/2 tsp rose water – this is strong and can overwhelm so start with a 1/2 mix well, taste then add by the drop if desired
Lightly grease the sides of an 8″ x 8″ pan with ghee or butter
Line the pan with parchment paper so the paper hangs over two opposite sides – see picture
Sift the cocoa powder into a bowl and add the sugar, whisk to combine – set aside
In a medium saucepan, mix together condensed milk and milk powder and add the ghee/butter, to make the khoya
Transfer pan to stovetop, add rose water and stir thoroughly with a high-heat tolerant silicone spoon or use a wooden spoon to combine
Stirring constantly, cook the mixture on low heat (you will not notice it sticking until you stop stirring, then little bits of brown stuff will start appearing – this is scorched. So don’t let it get to this stage) until it has a thick batter-like consistency, and separates from the edges of the pan when stirring – when you think it’s done – “just a little bit more” stirring is all it needs
Pour half the khoya into the prepared pan and smooth out the top – let cool then refrigerate for about 1 hour to set firmness
After 1 hour, remove the set mixture from the fridge and make the chocolate khoya
Add the cocoa/sugar mixture to the remaining khoya and over a medium flame, stir to combine – add 1 tbsp. butter (not melted) to the pot and stir
It will be tough at first but then get easier as the mixture starts to heat through
Stir constantly until it becomes spreadable or pourable – you shouldn’t be able to see grains of sugar in the mixture
Immediately pour and spread the chocolate khoya over the white khoya spreading evenly
Let the entire burfi cool and then refrigerate
Cut into small squares and serve at room temperature
The burfi can be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks in an airtight container in the fridge – although I seriously doubt it will last that long!
The pictures below are without the proper cooling time – patience never was a virtue of mine, I had a class to get to and underestimated the amount of time it took to cool. I promise you the pieces I cut later that evening were clean and precise – they just didn’t last long enough for me to take pictures of them 🙂
