Almond / Badam Burfi

A couple of years ago, my aunt Lakshmi Akka brought us some delicious almond burfis which I totally loved. We had some cousins visiting last weekend and I thought of making these burfis for them. I immediately called up Lakshmi Akka who gave me a detailed explanation of making these burfis. They came out quite good and the cousins liked them too.

Ingredients.
1 (heaped) cup almond
1/2 cup milk
1 3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup ghee

Method:
Soak almonds in hot water for 20 minutes. Drain water. Peel the almonds and discard the skin.
Grind almonds with milk into a thick, smooth paste (add more milk if required).
In a large deep bottomed pan, transfer the almond paste. Pour 1 tbsp ghee and mix well. Turn the heat to medium and keep stirring for a few minutes.

Add sugar and stir on medium heat for about 20 minutes. Scrape the sides as you mix. [If you cannot stand in front of the stove the entire time, just reduce the flame to low and stir every minute or so. But towards the end, make sure you are right there, mixing well, otherwise the bottom portion can get burnt]. The mixture will start thickening and will leave the sides of the pan. Don't remove from heat until the mixture stars resembling chapathi dough. Now add the rest of the ghee, switch the gas off and mix well.

Keep a large plate [I used a glass dish] greased with ghee ready. Transfer the mixture to the plate. With a spatula spread it across. You can smoothen it with the back of a glass. Immediately cut into squares. Allow to cool for a bit and transfer to an airtight container.

Note : Once the mixture starts resembling chapati dough, you have to work really fast. I stopped to take pictures and the mixture became drier than I'd have liked. Make sure you have a (liberally) greased plate ready. When you cut into squares, grease the knife with ghee to avoid the burfi from sticking to the knife.
If you feel the burfi is too soft, that means you may have removed the mixture from the pan too soon. Just stick them into the refrigerator and they will harden.

Check my post on 7 cup burfi.