Barfi (Indian sweet meats)

This weekend I went out to an Indian restaurant with my friends, and after eating dinner, a few them decided they were still up for a dessert.  The restaurant had a big array of Indian sweet meats, and so I stood and explained to everyone what each one was.  After everyone had finished scarfing down all the desserts, I realized that I could probably replicate them pretty well.  There are many types of Indian sweat meats(ludoo, rusgula, gulab jamun), but out of all of them, my favorite is barfi.  Barfi is traditionally made with boiled down milk, jaggery (home-made evaporate cane sugar), and ghee (clarified).  Basically, this stuff is heavy, really heavy.  If you can imagine what solidified poisonous deliciousness tastes like, that’s barfi.  So now, with my barfi, you can enjoy all the wonderful flavors of barfi, with none of the common side effects (brick feeling in your stomach, immediate sleepiness, general malaise, etc.).  Enjoy this one!

Ingredients

* 1/2 pound almonds
* 1/2 pound cashews
* 4 cloves cardamom or cardamom powder (to taste)
* 1 1/2 tbsp agave nectar
* 1/2 tsp salt
* cacao powder (optional)

 Directions

Using a food processor, grind down the almonds and cashews until they are as close to a powder as you can get them.  Shell the cardamom cloves, and grind down the seeds to a fine powder using a mortar and pestle.  In a large bowl, place the almond powder, cashew powder, cardamom powder, salt, and agave nectar.  Mash everything together with your hands until all ingredients are evenly distributed and nothing is sticking to the bowl.  Lay the mixture out on a large cutting board and flatten in down to about 1/2 inch thickness.  Cut in whatever shape desired.   (Optional) Roll individual pieces in cacao powder.  Top each piece with whatever you’d like.  I suggest cashews, almond, walnuts, pecans, dates, or bananas.  Next…. oh wait, thats it.  I forgot it was that simple.

 hehe… enjoy it!

San Diego Raw Potluck

This weekend I also attended the first San Diego Raw Potluck, held here in La Jolla by my friend Prescilla.  She had been planning the potluck for the last month, and it turned out really amazing.  It was really great to be meet all the local raw foodists and share recipes and ideas.  About 25 people showed up, and everyone brought something delicious to munch on.  I brought barfi (recipe above), my famous banana cobbler (recipe coming soon!), and my previously posted curry with “rice” (shredded cabbage).  All the food was really amazing.  I know I definitely stuffed myself on the mini sun-dried tomato pizzas along with to-die-for chocolate mini desserts that Prescilla made.  It was really a great time.  If you live in the San Diego area, be sure to join us all for the next potluck on December 6th.  For more info, visit the La Jolla/San Diego Raw Food Meetup Group.

Here are some pics from the potluck:

–Rishi