Khurma is a sweet Indian dish that can be made as a dessert or appetizer with variations including a paste or stew-like concoction made with sweetened milk, dates, spices, and sometimes vegetables. The dish is popular on holidays and can be served to honored guests. The recipe for khurma dough usually starts with flour and ghee, which is then fried and served with chasni syrup. The sweet stew version includes milk, dates, raisins, nuts, and spices, with the option to add vegetables. Coconut milk is traditional in Indian cooking.
Khurma is a sweet Indian dish that can be made as a dessert or as a main appetizer in a meal. This recipe varies so much that it may refer to a paste or stew-like concoction made with sweetened milk, dates, spices, and sometimes vegetables. The noodles are almost always served hot, but the sweet khurma stew can be eaten hot or cold. These dishes are especially popular on holidays and can also be served to honored guests. Pure khurma stew typically contains one type of paste and is often sweet, salty and spicy at the same time.
Most types of khurma dough start with about 5 parts flour and 0.25 parts ghee or ghee. The flour can be all wheat flour, or atta, although some cooks prefer to use 4 parts atta flour to one part white or maida flour. Ghee is usually very soft, which makes it relatively easy to mix together with flour to make a very thick, stiff dough. The oil, such as olive or peanut, is usually heated in a shallow pan and circles of the khurma dough are left inside. The dough is fried until golden brown and puffy.
While the khurma dough sizzles, the cook typically makes a simple syrup, called chasni, made from about 2 parts sugar to 1 part water. The two are boiled together until the sugar dissolves. The chasni is then poured over the hot pastries and drained. The pastries are allowed to cool slightly and are ready when the chasni syrup cools and turns into a white glaze. The finished pastries are then served immediately – some cooks compare this dish to American donuts.
The second type of khurma, the sweet stew, is usually finished with about 4 parts milk. The milk can be dairy or non-dairy, depending on the cook’s preference. You can use any non-dairy milk, but coconut milk is traditional in Indian cooking. The dish usually starts with a few tablespoons of ghee added to the bottom of a hot skillet. Pieces of flat, broken dough, such as vermicelli, are added to the butter and fried until golden brown.
Other ingredients are then added to the fried dough. Traditional ingredients include dates, raisins, walnuts, saffron, almonds and cardamom pods. When everything is warmed up, milk is added and sugar is mixed to taste. Cooks making vegetable khurma may also appreciate adding peas, chillies, garlic, and onions to the mix.
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