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Balushahi is a popular dessert in South Asia, made from cake flour, ghee butter, and baking soda, fried and dipped in a sweet liquid to create a sugary glazed shell. The recipe requires precise measurements and can be flavored with sugar, honey, cardamom, or citrus zest. The finishing touch is a sugar and water icing, often with added cardamom or zest, and the dessert is often dusted with cocoa powder, pistachio flakes, or powdered sugar. Balushahi is prevalent in Northern India and the southern coastal regions.
In South Asia, particularly India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, balushahi is a popular dessert that is made in much the same way as the glazed cake donut of Western cultures – except there is no hole in the middle. This after-meal breakfast consists of cake flour, ghee butter, and some baking soda rolled into a ball or disk. It is then fried in melted ghee before dipping into a sweet liquid which will harden into a sugary glazed shell.
Balushahi cake flour requires the utmost precision to make. A common recipe calls for maida flour, baking soda, ghee or clarified butter, tatric acid, and a little water. Only proper measurements will produce malleable and flavorful balls of dough, with about 1.5 cups (355 mL) of flour to about 0.5 cup (about 118 mL) of water. For this amount of dough, you will need a pinch of baking soda and 0.25 teaspoon (1.2 mL) of tatric acid and 60 mL of ghee or ghee. Some also add a little sugar, honey, cardamom or citrus zest to the dough.
Balushahi requires enough ghee, clarified butter or oil to dip into a skillet or deep fryer. If a shallow frying method is used, the dough balls will need to be turned halfway through the frying process. When the cooking medium is brought up to temperature, balushahi the size of a tennis ball is formed. Often the balls are flattened onto fatty disks and small indentations are made in the center, before adding them to the fryer; the latter dish, which is more popular in the southern regions of India, is called badushah.
Since these cakes by themselves won’t have much sweetness, the finishing touch of the icing is a crucial element. It’s just sugar and water, simmered until syrupy in a pan. Many also add a little cardamom or zest to elevate the taste. When the balushahi are fully browned, not blackened, they are fully immersed in this sugar liquid for at least 15 minutes.
After removing the balushahi from the icing mixture, they are often allowed to harden completely. Some dust them with cocoa powder, pistachio flakes or powdered sugar. This dish is most prevalent in Mughal-dominated areas in Northern India such as New Dehli and Uttar Pradesh; however, it is also a popular offering in the southern coastal regions from Tamil Nadu to Kerala.
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