Pistachio & cardamom barfi

We have been dropping like the flies on our windowsills.

Normally I persevere and continue to cook during hot weather, this time around I simply threw in the tea towel.
Breakfasts and lunches have been fruit, sandwiches, yoghurt, crudites - anything that doesn't require cooking. Dinner has been much the same with baked bean jaffles, caprese pressed sandwiches and super quick fritattatas. What we have missed out on has been desserts. Oh my have I missed my sweet treats. Hubby and I settled with chocolate coated licorice, but after four days, it's become a little unsatisfactory. There was a one night reprieve, where my darling husband took me out for my birthday to a restaurant I have been dying to go. Once I sunk my spoon into luscious lemon bisteeya and a date and chocolate tart, I knew I had gone too long without making a dessert, my favourite thing to prepare in the kitchen.


When I first tasted pistachio barfi, I was 10 years old, and one of my best friend's brought it as her heritage dish (we all brought dishes from our cultural backgrounds). It was my favourite dish out of the thrity or so I tasted. For years and years I asked my friend if she could get her mother to make it again for me, alas, 16 years on and I haven't had the pleasure of tasting it twice. Today, with the temperature only reaching 26C, I seized the opportunity with the utmost vigour to find a recipe for barfi, even though it's not the same as the one I had so long ago, it was still something different for my tastebuds to try.


ease: 5/5.
prep time: 20mins.
cooking time: 15mins.
total: 35mins plus 6 hours chilling time.

taste: 4/5. The soft, fudgelike cube surrenders willingly to your teeth, as it's silky, cardamom touched sweetness fills your mouth. The pistachio crumbs add a hint of flavour, but mostly provide a texture once the barfi has dissolved.
This reminds me of what a fudge would be like, if it dreamed of being as smooth as marble and as soft as butter. I was a little disappointed in the subtlety of the cardamom, and the practical absence of the cloves, two spices I can always handle more of, and this definitely needs more of them. The only downside was that it smelt softly of cheese, which put some of my family off, although it didn't taste like cheese.

would I make it again: No, as nice as it was, the faint aroma of cheese was just a little off putting for me.

recipe: Pistachio & cardamom barfi - from Good Taste - May 2008, Page 77