Gond Burfi!!

One day while browsing the net i came across mamta kitchen whose recipes somehow give me the flavour of North India.I tried lots of recipe from her site.One of which is Gond Burfi,back in india my mom used to make it for us.I tried it with lil diff. version from the original.

Ingredients

50 gm. gond or edible gum resin. It is sold in Indian shops in 100 gm. packets
3-4 tbs. ghee or clarified butter for deep frying (you may need more if gum swells up a lot and absorbs it)
25 gm. makhana, dry roasted
25 gm. blanched and chopped almonds*
25 gm. blanched pistachio nuts*
1 cup desiccated coconut
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups water
A greased flat tray or plate (heat resistant)
A wire spatula or a fine slotted spatula, to lift gum out of the ghee. If you do not have this, a wire tea strainer can be used.

Procedure

Grease a flat tray. Keep aside. Make sure that the gum resin is dry and not sticky. Coarsely grind it by placing it between 2 layers of a tea towel and gently pounding with a rolling pin or a meat tenderiser. It should be of a thick, granular consistency, not powdered. Heat ghee in a wok or karahi. Make sure that the ghee is not too hot. Gum burns very quickly. Deep-fry gum resin on medium heat, stirring it up all the time, to ensure that every single piece is fried. It fluffs up to almost double the size very quickly, within seconds. Lift it out of the ghee quickly, as soon as it fluffs up. Otherwise, it will burn and get bitter. Keep aside to cool. Dry roast Makhana in a hot wok or karahi. Mix with almonds and pistachios , keep aside. Dry fry the coconut on medium heat, until coconut aroma rises and it turns very lightly brown. Keep aside on a plate. Boil the water and add sugar. Continue boiling (see instructions below) and make syrup of one wire consistency. Add gum resin/ nut mix and coconut to the syrup and stir quickly to mix everything well. Turn out on to the greased tray. Flatten with the back of the spoon. I do it with wetted fingers, but you have to be careful not to burn yourself. Allow to cool. Cut into square or diamond shapes using a sharp knife. Pizza cutter is good for this. Store in an airtight tin or box.

Making syrup

Measure the sugar and water in a clean pan. There should be no fat in the pan or syrup may not set. Boil on medium heat. Stir initially to dissolve the sugar but you do not need to stir it all the time. If any scum forms on the top, add a spoon of milk to the syrup. This will help to precipitate the dirt which you can lift out with a tea strainer. There are two signs of 1 string consistency: (1) When you lift a spoon out of the boiling syrup, the syrup falls in drops. (2) When a drop is stretched between two fingers, it makes a single wire. You must make sure that this stage is reached. Otherwise, your burfi will not set. Don't boil it further once this stage is reached, or your burfi will set too hard.

I am sending this as my entry for Paajaka Sweet Series:Chikki and laddu