BALUSHAHI WITH PISTACHIO COULIS AND ORANGE BLOSSOM LABNEH
Serves: Eight to 10
Ingredients for Balushahi
2 cups flour
1/4 cup ghee
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup yogurt
3 cups sugar
Ghee for frying
Method
Mix together flour, ghee, baking soda and yoghurt. Make a dough using little warm water. Let a bit of rest for 20 minutes. After resting time, knead the dough again and make lemon sized balls out of it. Flatten the balls a little and pinch in the centre with your thumb to make depression. Fry them in heated ghee on medium hot flame to ensure they are cooked through.
Add 3 cups of sugar in 1-1/2 cup water and make sugar syrup of one string consistency. To this syrup add few strands of kesar to add colour and 1/2 tsp cardamom powder to give a nice aroma. Dip the hot balushahis in the hot syrup. Leave each of them in it for about 5 minutes and take out on a plate. Decorate with chopped almonds in the centre
ORANGE BLOSSOM AND GINGER LABNEH
Ingredients
500 gms yoghurt
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp grated ginger
1 heaping tsp honey
1 tsp orange blossom
Method
Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Place the colander over a bowl. Line it with the muslin cloth. Add the yoghurt mixture to the cloth. Tie the ends of the muslin cloth into a knot. Place in the fridge overnight or 24 hours. Transfer the cheese to a serving dish, cover and keep in fridge till ready to serve. Labneh becomes sourer as it ages.
PISTACHIO COULIS
Ingredients
1/2 tsp unsalted pistachios
2 betel leaves
1 tsp unsalted butter1
1/4 cup cream
1 tsp honey
1-2 silver warq
Method
Blanch the pistachios in 2 cups hot water for 5 minutes. Drain and put them in a blender with betel leaves and puree it. Heat one tsp butter in a pan and add this puree. Cook for a minute and add honey. Stir well. Tip in cream and cook till sauce like consistency is achieved. Cool it and add a drop of rose essence and stir. Decorate with silver foil.
Plating up
Take a white plate for the colours to come out vibrantly. Leaving a little border space, make a swirl on its circumference with the green coloured pistachio coulis. Place two balushahis in the centre of the plate, one overlapping the other. Spoon some sugar syrup on them to add glaze and sprinkle saffron strands and almond flakes. Dot the balushais with sweet labneh quenelles and sprinkle chopped pistachios on the white labneh dollops. For a royal touch add the bling of silver foil.
(Contributed by Swati Khanna Gulati, Chef, Biteclub.in)
