My grandma was someone who was gifted when it came to cooking. I still remember every Friday she would make meethi boondi especially when it was nearing festive months be it Eid or Diwali she would make lots of Indian sweets and distribute them to friends and family. Right before I got married she would take me to the kitchen and teach me how to cook and as I was fond of desserts and making them, she taught me so many of her ancestral recipes which have been passed down to her for almost 8 generations and meethi boondi was one of them. During festival times I have carried my dadima’s tradition of making boondi and other desserts when hosting Eid, Diwali or Christmas parties. This is the most easiest recipes you’ll ever find. One of the most important tool is the jaaro, aka a perforated skimmer that creates these beautiful round shaped morsels (I got mine from an indian store located in Toronto called “Panchvati”. Enjoy!
Sweet (Meethi) Boondi
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Rest Time: 15 hours
Total Time: 45 minutes
Servings: 8
Ingredients
Batter
250g besan (chickpea flour)
Luke warm water as needed
1/4 tsp baking soda
Drop of orange,green and red food colour
Sugar syrup
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 Tbsp saffron
1 tsp lime juice
Assembly
1 tsp saffron
1 tsp ground cardamom
2 Tbsp slivered pistachios
1 Lt. vegetable oil for deep frying (I used mazola oil)
Instructions:
- Batter: In a bowl whisk together the besan, water and baking soda. Cover and rest for 15 minutes.
- Once rested divide a few table spoons of batter into separate bowl and whisk in red, orange and green food colour. Mix and keep aside.
- Sugar syrup: When the batter is resting make the sugar syrup, mix together the sugar, water, saffron and cardamom powder (optional). Heat the mixture until it comes to a boil. Remove from the stove top and keep aside.
- Assembly: Heat the oil on medium heat. Place the jaaro on top of the pan and using a cup slowly pour the batter onto the jaaro. It will quickly begin to drop through the holes into the oil (very similar to rain drops), fry for 30 seconds.
- Once the batter has fallen through use either a scooper or I’ve used a metal mesh sieve to scoop out all the pearls and immediately drop them in the prepared sugar syrup for 30 seconds.
- Using a spoon remove them and transfer into the serving bowl.
- After each color make sure you wash the jaaro so that there is not cross contamination between the colours.
Note: You can have the boondi right away or store in an airtight container and refrigerate unto 2 weeks. For serving warm it up and garnish with a few saffron strands, gold or silver edible foil, slivered almonds/pistachios and serve.