Barfi Churmu with Flour, Oats and Almonds

One of the quickest and easiest Indian desserts, I like making is  churma na ladoo with jaggery.  I find this dessert very easy to make as I have been making it regularly for years.  The jaggery in the ladoos gives it nice caramel like taste too.  With the festival of Holi just round the corner, I decided to make barfi churmu for a change.

What is Holi?  Holi is the Hindu festival of colours celebrated at the start of spring.  It really comes at a perfect time in the UK, when Spring is in the air and the days are getting longer.  We have just celebrated Mother’s Day and Easter isn’t far off.  All these Eastern and Western celebrations make life interesting and during the pandemic.  It gives me something to look forward to.   More information about Holi is here.   Holi is celebrated over two days and this article makes it easy to understand why.

The recipe for barfi churmu is very similar to churma na ladoo, except that i added some oats and some ground almonds to the flour to create a wholesome dessert.  The oats and nuts do give it a lovely texture and flavour.

Jump to Recipe

 Ingredients for about 20 slices

• 1 cup wheat flour
• 1 cup Oats ( I used Ready Brek oats as they are almost as fine as flour )
• ½ cup semolina
• ½ cup ground almonds
• 1 cup ghee ( may not need all of it)
• 4 cups oil for frying
• 1½  cup of finely grated or sliced jaggery
• 1 cup full cream warm milk
• 1 tsp ground  cardamoms
• ½ tsp of ground nutmeg
• 1 tablespoons of Khus-Khus (poppy seeds) for garnishing
• handful if sliced almonds for garnishing

Method

1.   Mix wheat flour, oats, semolina , the ground almonds and pistachio mixture with 3-4 table spoons ghee .  Add some milk and knead into a dough. You can use more ghee if needed.

2.   Make 12-14 small balls called muthias out of dough.  Take a small amount of dough and press it in your fist and keep pressing it by passing it from one hand to another.  As you pass the dough from hand to hand, it gets shaped like your fist and we call these muthias. The muthias should be firmly packed so they don’t break when frying.

3.   Heat the oil and fry the muthias at very low heat until they are golden brown.   Let the muthias cool down a bit.  Once cool, transfer them to a food processor and grind them make into a coarse mixture of uniform consistency.  

4.  Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl and add the nutmeg, and cardamom to the ladoo mixture. Add 2 tablespoons of ghee and  warm it slightly so that the jaggery melts.  Add the warm jaggery and ghee mixture to the ladoo mixture and mix it together using a spoon.

 

5.  Transfer the warm barfi churmu mixture on to a greased tray and garnish it with nuts and poppy seeds.  Press it down using the back of a spoon.  Allow this to cool.  Once cool, make squares and serve.  Any saved pieces can be stored in an airtight container.

Celebrating Holi this year? Stay safe this year as we are not able to mingle and play with colours,  In Kenya, we used to go to do the darshan (watch) of  the holi bonfire  and meet friends there as there was usually a funfare attached to these celebrations. . This year we hope to meet our family virtually on Zoom. I wish Happy Holi to all who are celebrating it.  

You may also like to make the following indian ladoos and desserts

• mixed nut barfi
• Chappati ladoo
• Nuts and Muesli ladoo
• Muesli or granola bars
• Churma na ladoo
• jalebi ladoos
• Energy ladoos
• Bundi ladoo
• Quick Chocolate Barfi using condensed milk and a microwave

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