Meethi Boondi/Sweet Boondi Recipe
Meethi Boondi are deep fried golden round shaped pearls made with beasn/gram flour, dipped in saffron flavored sugar syrup and served.
- 1.5 cup Sugar
- 3/4 cup Water
- ¼ Tsp. Saffron
- ½ Tsp. Cardamom powder
- 1 cup Besan/gram flour
- 1/8 Tsp. Baking soda (optional)
- ½ cup+2 Tbsp. Water
- ¼ Tsp. Red Food Color (or as required)
- Ghee for deep frying
First let’s make sugar syrup. Soak saffron in 2 Tbsp. of milk.
In a sauce pan add sugar and water and simmer it on medium flame. Once the syrup boils, add saffron milk, cardamom powder and food color, mix well.
Remove the dirt that floats on the sugar mixture.
Boil the syrup for 7-8 minutes, or until it reaches to 1 string consistency, while stirring occasionally. If you like sticky boondi, switch off the flame once sugar is dissolved completely and have got nice boils.
Switch off the flame and keep the syrup aside.
First pass the besan, baking soda and salt through a sieve. Making sure there is no lump.
Next add 1 Tbsp. of water at a time and mix to make a smooth & thick lump free batter. (Do not add all of the water)
Cover and let the batter rest for 10 minutes. Meantime heat enough oil in pan/kadai to fry boondi.
After 10 minutes give the batter a nice whisk, add remaining water as required to make thick but flowing consistency batter. Batter is ready.
Once oil is hot, add few drops of batter to check the required temperature. The boondi should come up immediately. Oil is ready.
Now hold the boondi jhara a little above the pan(3-4 inch above) and pour 2-3 Tbsp. of batter on it. Boondi will start dropping in hot oil. Do not tap, keep them dropping slowly.
Stir boondi occasionally for even cooking. Fry for 1-2 minutes on medium heat or until boondi turns crisp and bright yellow in color. Do not over fry boondi. Browning is sign of over frying.
Using slotted spoon take boondi out, drain excess oil and spread them on kitchen paper towel.
Every time clean wipe the jhara from back using damp cloth, before repeating the process.
Repeat the process until you have one big ladle full of batter left for red color boondi. Making red boondi is optional but if do so, add red food color in the remaining batter, and mix well.
Make red boondi in similar way.
Now add boondi to warm sugar syrup, gently toss and let it rest for 1-2 hours until sugar syrup is completely absorbed and well coated. Once boondi and syrup are cooled down, the sugar syrup will crystallize, separating very single pearl.
Meethi boondi is ready serve, serve and enjoy with your family and friends.
Equipment required:
- To make boondi special flat spoon with holes is required also known as Jhara or perforated spoon.
- This boondi jhara comes in different sizes to make different size of boondi.
- Alternatively you can use grater also to make boondi.
- To fry slotted spoon will work.
Adding baking soda:
Adding soda to batter is optional. Soda gives nice crunch to boondi but If you are making sweet boondi it’s not required.
Batter consistency:
- To maperfekect round shaped boondi, batter consistency plays an important role.
- Batter should be smooth and lump free, so that it can passes though jhara flawlessly.
- The perfect consistency is slightly thinner than dosa batter.
- If you get tails if batter is thin, add more besan and whisk.
- If you boondi turn dense that means batter is thick, add more water and whisk.
Lump free batter:
- To prepare lump free batter, always pass the dry ingredients through sieve.
- Always make thick paste first, adding half of the water in batches.
- Rest the thick batter for 10 minutes and make a smooth flowing consistency batter by adding water in batches and whisking rigorously.
Ghee/Oil temperature:
Always fry boondi in hot ghee, else boondi will turn flat, won’t hold it round shape and won’t be crispy. To check, add few drops of batter in heated ghee. The boondi should come up immediately. Ghee is ready.
Distance from oil/ghee:
The distance between oil/ghee and jhara is very important to know. It should be 3-4 inches above the oil/ghee. Do not place the jhara on very high, boondi won’t be round but will have tails.
Spreading:
Let boondi batter pass through jhara with its own speed. Do not tap or use spoon/hand to spread the batter.
Frying time:
Do not over fry boondi. Browning is sign of over frying. It won’t take more than 2-3 minutes to fry boondi.
Cleaning the Jhara:
Every time clean wipe the jhara from back using damp cloth, before repeating the process.
Fry in batches:
Fry boondi in batches, do not over crowd the pan. Boondi might get stuck to each other and won’t get perfect round shape.
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