Strawberry Milk Barfi
स्ट्रॉबेरी मिल्क बर्फी
By Geeta S · 35 min · serves 8
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A milk-powder barfi, the quick cousin of the one made by reducing milk for an hour, coloured and flavoured by nothing but strawberries cooked down to a jam. The pieces need an hour or two to set once they are in the tin, which the prep and cook times do not count. The colour, a soft peach-pink rather than the red of a shop sweet, is what fresh strawberries give on their own; there is no colouring in it, and that is the point. Almond slivers pressed into the top and whole almonds on the plate are the only decoration. This is Geeta’s sweet and her photographs; the write-up is Zaika’s, checked against them.
Ingredients
- 250 g strawberries, hulled1¾ cups strawberries, hulledIn the US: Frozen strawberries work exactly as well and are often riper than fresh; thaw them, puree them with their juice, and cook the puree a few minutes longer, since they hold more water.
- 200 g full-fat milk powder1½ cups full-fat milk powderIn the US: Indian groceries sell it as full cream milk powder, and Nido from the Hispanic aisle of a US supermarket is the same thing. Non-fat dry milk is a poor swap, because the fat it lacks is what makes the barfi tender; if it is all you have, add 3 tablespoons more ghee and expect a firmer, drier sweet.
- 120 ml whole milk½ cup whole milk
- 100 g sugar½ cup sugar
- 3 tbsp ghee, plus a little for greasing3 tbsp ghee, plus a little for greasingIn the US: Unsalted butter, at a pinch. It makes a slightly softer barfi.
- ¼ tsp cardamom powder¼ tsp cardamom powder
- 2 tbsp sliced almonds, to top2 tbsp sliced almonds, to topIn the US: Sold as sliced almonds: thin flat ovals that press into the top. Slivered almonds are batons and sit on it rather than in it, which works but sheds when you stack the pieces.
- A handful of whole almonds, to serveA handful of whole almonds, to serve
Method
- 1Puree the strawberries and cook the puree in a small pan on medium heat, stirring, until it is thick and jammy and a spoon dragged through it leaves a trail. Roughly a cup of puree should cook down to about 90 g, a generous third of a cup. Water is the enemy of a barfi that sets, and this is where it leaves.10 min
- 2Grease a 15 cm square tin with ghee and line it with baking parchment that overhangs two sides, so the set slab lifts out. Use a tin rather than a plate, which will not hold the edges at this depth. Keep the sliced almonds beside it.
- 3Melt the ghee in a heavy non-stick pan on low heat with the milk and sugar, and stir until the sugar has dissolved and the milk just begins to simmer.3 min
- 4Add the milk powder a little at a time, whisking each addition smooth before the next, and cook on low, stirring and scraping the base, until it comes together into a soft mass, four or five minutes. Only then stir in the strawberry paste and the cardamom: the fruit is acidic, and stirred into thin, hot milk it can catch the milk into fine grains, while a mass that has already thickened takes it smoothly. Keep cooking on low, stirring without stopping, until the mixture thickens into one mass that comes away from the sides of the pan and a spoon dragged through it leaves a trail that does not close. Test by cooling a pea-sized piece for a few seconds and rolling it: a soft ball that does not stick to your fingers is done.12 min
- 5Turn it into the tin and press it flat with a second sheet of greased parchment to about a centimetre and a half thick. Scatter the sliced almonds over the top and press them in while it is warm so they hold.
- 6Leave it to set at room temperature, an hour or two, until it is firm to the touch and cool all the way through. Lift it out by the parchment and cut it into sixteen squares, or halve the squares into triangles; this makes sixteen pieces, and a serving is two. Serve with whole almonds on the plate, and keep what is left in an airtight box in the fridge, where it lasts five days.90 min
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If it goes wrong
Why your milk barfi is soft, sticky or grainy
Soft or sticky after two hours means it came off the heat too early, almost always because the strawberry paste still held water. Put the whole lot back in the pan on low and cook it a few minutes more, until the ball test passes, then press it out again. Dry and crumbly is the opposite: cooked too long, and a tablespoon of warm milk kneaded in while it is still warm brings it back. Grainy has three causes. Lumps of milk powder that never dissolved, which is why it goes in a little at a time and gets whisked; sugar added after the mixture thickened rather than dissolved in the milk first; and strawberry stirred into milk that was still thin and hot, where the fruit acid catches it into fine curds, which is why the paste waits until the mass has come together.
Substitutions
Strawberries, milk powder and colour: what to buy in the US
Full-fat milk powder is the one ingredient worth seeking out: Indian groceries sell it as full cream milk powder, and Nido, in the Hispanic or baking aisle of most US supermarkets, is the same product. The common non-fat dry milk has none of the fat, so it makes a drier, chalkier barfi; if it is what you have, add three tablespoons more ghee. Frozen strawberries are often better than fresh for this, being picked ripe; they only need a few extra minutes to cook down. No colouring is needed — the peach-pink in the photographs is the strawberries alone, and a bright red barfi has been coloured.
Substitutions
Is strawberry milk barfi gluten-free, egg-free or nut-free?
There is no flour or egg in it, so it is gluten-free and egg-free as written; if gluten matters, read the milk powder label, since some brands are packed on lines that also handle wheat. It is not vegan: milk powder, milk and ghee are the whole sweet. It contains no nuts if you leave off the almonds on top and on the plate, which are decoration and nothing more, but check the milk powder and cardamom packs for a may-contain warning before you give it to someone with a nut allergy.
Keeping it
How long strawberry barfi keeps, and why it goes in the fridge
Unlike kaju katli, this is a milk sweet with fruit in it, so it lives in the fridge: five days in an airtight box with parchment between the layers. Straight from the fridge it is firm and the strawberry tastes muted, so give it twenty minutes on the plate first. It freezes for a month, layered the same way, and thaws in the fridge overnight; do not thaw it on the counter, where the surface sweats and the almonds go soft.
Make ahead
Strawberry barfi for Diwali: a sweet that is not the usual colour
A Diwali box is mostly ivory, saffron and pistachio-green, and a soft pink square stands out in it. Make it up to two days ahead and keep it in the fridge until you pack the boxes; cut it small, since it is richer than it looks. Give it a layer of its own rather than packing it against the kaju katli, which picks up moisture from a fridge sweet and goes soft. One batch fills two small boxes.
Nutrition
Estimated, per serving.
- Calories
- 265
- Protein
- 8 g
- Carbs
- 26 g
- Fat
- 15 g
- Fibre
- 1 g
- Sugar
- 24 g
- Sodium
- 100 mg
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