Semolina Barfi or Suji Barfi

Suji Barfi is my all-time favourite sweet dish from childhood days. My mother used to prepare the barfi in large amount and then store them away in refrigerator for us to feast on in between breaks, from study or otherwise. It hardly lasted a week though, in a matter of three or four days suji barfis were all finished off without a single crumb left over. Following in my mother's footsteps, I too refill the refrigerator every week with one or two sweet dishes for my family to have something to eat whenever hungry. However, my mother's way of preparation of Suji Barfi slightly varies from mine. She usually stuck to simple barfis made with sugar and water or milk respectively. But I use coconuts and dry fruits to my barfis to add an extra flavour. If you want you may skimp on dry fruits and coconuts.

Ingredients:                                  Cooking time: 20 minutes

 2 cups Semolina or Suji

1 litre of milk

1 cup grated coconuts

1 cup of broken dry fruits including raisins, cashew nuts and almonds.

1 cup of sugar or less as per your sweet craving

1 tbs of ghee

Method:

1) Heat ghee in a frying pan and then roast the dry fruits. Once raisins start ballooning up, toss in semolina and roast it till semolina changes color to golden.

2) Add coconuts and sugar. Stir for 2 minutes to mix well.

3) Reduce the heat to low. Now add milk little by little. Since semolina soaks up milk quickly, you should be adding milk gradually giving semolina some time to cook itself through. When semolina seems cooked with all the milk soaked up, turn off the heat.

4) Now spread the semolina with a spatula on a medium sized plate covering all the sides and refrigerate it for 2 hours till semolina becomes sufficiently hard for you to cut barfi shapes.

5) Semolina barfis are ready for you to relish.