Harveen's Baking Affair

For us desi folks, festive season  means mithai and loads of it . We like it in such copious amounts and varying flavors and we are not ashamed to admit it . Not only do we like sampling it ourselves but also exchanging it with friends and relatives making the festive season even more sweeter. Our charitable side urges us to share the  mithai  with those unfortunate than us in keeping with the true meaning of the festive season . In short , it is the mithai which is the focal point of any south Asian festivity and especially so for Diwali . For it is then that it's sales go sky rocketing with the halwai wallas blocking the streets with their display of colorful mithai to which we humble folks unable to resist are simply drawn like bees are to the nectar of the flowers. A las, here in the US we do not have so many halwai walla's in our vicinity and as such  copious and multitude are not the words which we use to describe our festive mit...

I'll be the first to admit of my extreme pickiness when it comes to eating mithai.  Sweet tooth , I'm certainly in possession of , but mine seems to be a very selective one. Give me syrupy , too sweet mithai and I won't even touch it  even if I am on an abandoned island with no food supply...okay that is me being overly dramatic but you guys get the point. On the other hand, there are some members of the mithai species that I am simply unable to resist ..Their lure is just to too much for my feeble will to resist .. besan ke ladoo tops that list . Besan ke ladoo also occupies a special place in my heart because it was the first mithai that I made after moving to the States after my marriage . The occasion was hubby's birthday and I wanted to send something sweet for his colleagues. They wanted something uniquely Indian and beasan ke laddoos became the apparent choice for I wanted the sweet to be wholesome and not sticky and be utterly delicious as well. The la...

Mithai bucket list ..Is that the first time you have heard about it ? Let me assure that it exists albeit in my mind . Also, if I have not mentioned it before , let it be known to  the gentle reader that I am a Gemini and a typical one at that . In simpler terms it means that I get bored with repetition and to keep my creative juices flowing , I have to try something new now and then. Suffering from a case of the aforementioned, I decided to do something about my imaginary mithai preparation list . Why chocolate barfi ? Simple answer - I love it !!! I am not a very big chocolate fan( truly) but chocolate barfi is something that I simply  cannot resist. The appeal may be due to the quite obvious fusion of traditional and western flavors. So, can you guys then blame me for giving it the honor of being the first mithai to try in my bucket list ?  Determined in my resolve and with a fair bit of excitement thrown in , I visited the local grocery store to buy the main ...