Baked Boondi in home made rabri is a delicious and fun take on the traditional sweet. It can be served cold or warm, parfait style in individual glasses. The rabri lends a wonderful creamy richness to the boondi, the pistachios add the texture and the chocolate bits layered through out add the oomph factor to this easy 10 minute dessert!! Go on, try something new this festival season and wow your guests 
What do you do when your in laws get you two kgs of shudh ghee ka bana hua ghar ka boondi??
# You eat it- as it is.
# You share with your neighbors, happily.
# You pack some in your office lunchbox, to share with colleagues.
# You eat some more… mixed with teekha sev for a change
And finally you decide to make something fun and fabulous for Ganesh pooja using the boondi…
Boondi is a staple sweet during festivals in India. Originating from Rajasthan in India, boondi are small droplets of deep fried sweet chickpea/ gram flour. Its usually made into laddoos as they last for almost a week. The fried boondis are soaked in simple syrup to make it sweet and sticky.
As a child one of my favorite memories of Ganesh pooja is eating the boondi and sev mix after the pushpanjali was done. Every year, the night before the pooja we would be jumping around with excitement. The three of us helped our mum decorate the beautiful Ganesh statue that we got. And then we made lil colorful flags and mom made beautiful cut work designs from origami paper. Bright and beautiful. We lit the whole pooja room with lights and diyas, there were flowers and garlands wherever you saw, and plate upon brass plates laden with fruits, sweets, pithas(a traditional Oriya crepe) and of course the inevitable boondi.
Times have changed though. I cant really say I have the time or the patience to go all out and celebrate all the festivals in India as my parents did. May be its coz I am more spiritual than religious. May be its coz we are just two and a half people here, and it seems like too much of an effort. You know that state of mind where you just want to lie down like a log and sleep ten hours a day, especially after a really hectic, albeit fun week with the inlaws!
Well, I was suffering from that syndrome. Now don’t go and call me lazy please. But after having cooked two out of the three meals, and evening snacks for a continuous seven day period, I wanted a break. That’s when I decided to just make this simple mithai for the pooja and to serve the neighbors who just randomly decided to drop by on my sleepy tired self!
Baked Boondi in Home made Rabri, with pistachios and chocolate slivers.
Delicious all the way!!
“Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come.
You wait and watch and work.
You don’t give up.”
For me Ganesh pooja is more about reinstating my self belief..in knowing that there is a higher power that will help me when i need help, that is there for me. Its not just about the poojas. I still keep fast, something i have done since I was a teenager, but now I teach babyD the true significance of the pooja..tell her stories of Ganesha..teach her about his heroic feats..about his devotion to his parents Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathi..and of course regale her with stories of sibling rivalry between him and Lord Karthik. This pooja, we prayed for hope for everyone.. not just ourselves.
“Let there be Faith. Let there be Hope. Let there be Peace”.
Wishing all my friends a glorious festive season… Enjoy this delicious dessert and give those usual laddoos a pass.
Xo,
S
Rabri recipe from the incomparable Dassana Amit. More about her in the recipe section!! Dont forget to check out her amazing blog and try out her fabulous recipes. PS: They are in step by step format!!!
- Ready made sweet boondi - 500 gms
- Home made rabri - 2 cups (recipe below)
- Condensed milk - 4 tbsp
- Pistachio slivers - ½ cup
- Chocolate bits - ¼ cup
- Vanilla Ice cream - optional.
- For the Rabri:
- I followed the recipe of Dassana Amit who is a pioneer in Indian blogging community. She's an extremely talented and hugely popular blogger who has taught many, including me some of the best and basic recipes of Indian cuisine!
- Please click on the link below to get her Rabri recipe. I followed it to the t, except adding the saffron, since I wanted the rabri to remain white for this particular dish.
- You need to pre heat the oven at 160 .
- In a shallow baking dish, add the boondi, top with ¾ of the rabri, drizzle the condensed milk, garnish half the pistachio.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes in a 160 C oven.
- Once done, remove and let it cool a bit.
- You can serve this either warm or chilled like I prefer. Either ways its delicious.
- To assemble:
- Start by adding some boondi to a glass, top with the baked rabri boondi, add some pistachios and chocolate, drizzle more rabri, Top with unbaked sweet boondi and garnish with pistachio and chocolates. Drizzled a spoonful of rabri on top.
- Optional: You can also add angoori gulab jamuns to this. It tastes fabulous!
- You can make the rabri with saffron too , but I wanted the white color for this recipe, hence omitted the saffron.
- To make it even more festive, try sticking on tiny delicate films of varq on top, while serving.
It looks fantastic and I’m totally intrigued! I’ve never eaten such a parfait
I wish I could taste it now!
loved this recipe!! have featured this on a blog roundup for fusion Indian sweets here at http://artsycraftsymom.com/best-indian-dessert-modern/ just in time for Diwali
love the idea
do we have to bake the boondi
nipa
Nope.. Just layer everything, then bake.