Your Republic Day celebration will be incomplete without a tricolour dish as part of your meal.
Chef Shivaramkrishna J's Kaju Pista Barfi is a fine way to wind down your R-Day lunch and features plenty of nuts.
It looks awesome, lives up to the patriotic theme and is a sure-shot way to impress your guests.
The chef, who trained at the Indian Institute of Hotel Management and Culinary Arts, Hyderabad, put in 17 plus years with the Taj group of hotels before joining Accor.
Kaju Pista Barfi
Serves: 2-3
Ingredients
- 60 gm cashews, powdered
- 60 gm pistachios
- 300 gm condensed milk
- ½ tsp green elaichi or cardamom powder
- 1 tbsp ghee + extra to grease
- 5-6 drops green food colour
- 5-6 drops orange food colour
- Kesar or saffron strands, to garnish
- Vark, or silver foil, to garnish
- Chopped almonds and pistachios, to garnish
Method
- Dry roast the pistachio in a frying pan over low heat for 3-4 minutes.
Take off heat and keep aside to cool.
Transfer into a blender and grind lightly to a coarse mixture.
- In a bowl, mix the cashew powder and the pistachio powder.
Add the cardamom powder.
Mix and keep aside.
- Heat the ghee in a frying pan over medium heat.
Add the condensed milk and the powdered cashew-pistachio mixture.
Mix and cook over medium heat till the mixture begins to dry and starts to pull together.
Take off heat.
Divide the mixture into 3 parts.
Keeping one part white, add the green food colour in one part and the orange food colour in the other part.
Mix each portion well until the food colour is well combined.
Spread the green mixture evenly over a greased plate.
Spread the white mixture on top of it and then the orange mixture.
Garnish with the vark.
Sprinkle the chopped nuts and the saffron strands.
Press them gently into the mixture.
Let it cool and then cut it into cubes or any other shape you like.
Chef Shivaramkrishna J is the executive chef at Novotel Vijayawada Varun, Andhra Pradesh.