Vegan almond barfi

And here is the final recipe! It's really a halwa recipe, but you can set it and cut it into diamonds like I did, or serve it warm as halwa!

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups almonds soaked overnight
2 cups water
2 pinches of saffron
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup coconut oil
Method

1. Line a 9x9 inch baking tray with grease proof paper.
2. Blend the soaked almonds with some of the 2 cups of water - use as less as possible to start of with to make the almond paste as smooth as possible. Add the remaining water.
3. Pour the paste into a pan and cook until the mixture thickens and dries. Add the sugar and mix well. then the oil. Continue cooking until the mixture becomes lumpy and thick.
4. Lastly add saffron and cardamom and mix in. Pour into the prepared tray and let cool for 30 minutes before refrigerating to cool completely. Cut into diamonds. Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a week.

Original recipe: Almond halwa

This is the last of the 3 Indian sweet recipes - I hope you like them!

Vegan date fig barfi

My second vegan Indian sweet recipe is a sugarless vegan date fig barfi - delicious and not overly sweet like most Indian sweets are! Definitely an easy one to make, so go for it :D

Makes 12-16 squares (depending on how big you cut them)
Ingredients
1 cup dates
1 cup dried figs
1 cup water
1/4 cup almonds
1/4 cup cashews
2 tbsp coconut oil
1/4 tsp cardamom powder
Method

1. Soak the dates and figs in hot water for an hour. Line an 8x4 inch (or similar size) deep tray with grease proof paper.
2. Coarsely grind the dry almonds and cashew and keep aside.
3. Blend the dates and figs using some of the water used for soaking until coarsely chopped (the less water you use the easier the next step will be). 
4. In a pan, heat the oil at a low heat and add the date fig mixture. Cook at low heat stirring occasionally for 20 minutes. Add in the almonds, cashews and cardamom powder and keep cooking until the mixture starts to leave the sides of the pan. 
5. Spread the mixture into the pan. Let cool and refrigerate for an hour before slicing. Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a week!

Original recipe: Date fig barfi

Vegan kesar barfi

Happy Diwali and Happy New Year! It has been a very busy weekend for me. Saturday night was my final year dinner, and it was a really good night - and a bit emotional too! I can't believe I'm almost at the end of my 6 years at medical school. So many good memories :) Other than that, I also celebrated my sister's birthday yesterday because I'm away in Somerset during the week on her actual birthday. Which of course means I baked a cake for her (recipe coming soon). And as if that wasn't enough, I ambitiously decided to make 3 different indian sweets for Diwali! I don't make things easy for myself do I? So here is the first of the three sweets - vegan kesar (saffron) barfi!

Date fig barfi (left), almond halwa (middle), kesar barfi (right)
Makes 12-16 squares (depending how big you cut them)

Ingredients

3/4 cup almonds soaked overnight
1/2 cup fine semolina flour

2 tbsp coconut oil

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

Pinch of cardamom powder

1/2-1 tsp saffron strands (to taste)

Pinch of salt

Method

1. Line a small dish with grease proof paper (I used a small pie dish).
2. Soak the almonds overnight. Peel and pulse into coarse crumbs (peel them by soaking in boiling water for 2 minutes, then press them and the almonds should pop out of their skin).
3. In a pan, dry roast the semolina on low-medium heat for 6-8 minute or until it's starts changing colour and in fragrant. Add the ground almonds and oil and mix well to form crumbs.
4. In another pan, mix the sugar, water, cardamom powder, saffron strands and salt. Bring to the boil on a low-medium heat until 1 string consistency is achieved (a few minutes). Add it to the semolina mixture and mix well until combined while on the heat.
5. Take off heat after a few seconds and pour into the prepared tray. Even it out and cut into squares before it hardens. Allow to cool for 15 minutes before breaking into pieces. Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a week.

Original recipe: Kesar barfi

2 more recipes to come!

Vegan peanut butter fudge (Easy peasy)

Ever since I went to New York last year I have become addicted to peanut butter flavoured things thanks to Reese's peanut butter cups (also sold in St Mary's hospital shop, yum). So when I saw this recipe I just had to give it a go. This is another quick, busy-schedule recipe. Like the vegan chocolate, it takes no time at all so anyone can do it. I took some fudge in with me to my placement and shared it with my team - they all loved it which made me very happy! Extremely yummy but also equally calorific so you have been warned ;)

Ingredients
3/4 cup vegan margarine
1 cup peanut butter
2 cups icing sugar
Method

1. Melt the margarine in a saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter until smooth.
2. Stir in the icing sugar a little at a time until well blended (it will look a bit lumpy at first but keep adding more sugar and it will be fine).
3. Scoop into a 9x9 inch baking dish and pat down. Chill until firm and then cut into squares for eating. Store in the fridge of course otherwise it will go all mushy!

I reduced the sugar down to 2 cups from 3 2/3 cups in the original recipe and I think it's just the right amount of sweet, hope you think so too :)