Nestled in a nook in North India’s capital of Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow is famed for a lot of things, one of which is its mithai, sweets, desserts, what you might call it. So, if you were looking for Lucknow famous food, the sweet part of it, you are at the right place. This is not a listicle, we have Lucknow-special recipes for sweets that are found in street corners and famous sweetmeat shops in the city. With these recipes, you can have a taste of Lucknow at home easily.
1. Shahi Tukda
(Serves 6)
Ingredients:
- 6 slices bread
- 1 jar ghee for deep drying or pan-frying
For sugar syrup
- 65 gm sugar
- 120ml water
- ½ tsp cardamom powder
- ½ tsp rose water
For Rabdi
- 830 ml milk
- 60 gm sugar
- 1 pinch saffron
- 20 almonds, soaked overnight
For garnish
- 60 gm pistachios
- 45 gm mawa (optional)
Instructions
- Use room temperature bread making sure they aren’t moist, or simply toast them in a pan.
- Soak the saffron in 30 ml of hot milk and set aside.
- For the Rabdi, peel and grind the soaked almonds with sugar, cardamom powder, and 60 ml milk to a smooth paste.
- Add this paste to the rest of the milk and boil on low heat until it reduces to half. Remove from heat and let it cool.
- For the sugar syrup, bring sugar and water to a boil in a saucepan, until it reaches a one-string consistency. Remove from heat and stir in the rose water.
- Remove the brown edges from the bread slices, and cut each slice diagonally into 2 or 4 pieces.
- Deep fry the bread pieces in ghee over low heat until golden and crispy. You can also pan-fry with a small amount of ghee until crispy.
- Dip each fried bread piece in the sugar syrup. Arrange the soaked bread pieces on a serving plate. Just before serving, pour the cooled Rabri over the bread slices. Garnish with toasted pistachios and sprinkle khoya.
- Serve the Shahi Tukda warm or chilled.
2. Nawabi Zafrani Kheer
(Makes 4 servings)
Ingredients
- 100 gm basmati rice
- 240 ml water
- 950 ml milk
- 150 gm sugar
- 400 gm condensed milk (1 standard can)
- ¼ tsp cardamom powder
- 60 gm almonds, crushed
- Silver leaf (vark) and nuts, for garnish
- 2 tbsp rose water + 1/4 tsp of crushed saffron
Instructions
- Rinse the rice thoroughly and add it to a pot with water, and cardamom powder. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the rice is very tender.
- Remove the cooked rice from heat and use a hand blender to blend it.
- Add the milk, sugar, crushed almonds, and condensed milk to the blended rice.
- Cook the mixture over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until the kheer thickens to your desired consistency.
- While the kheer is cooking, combine the rose water and crushed saffron in a small bowl. Let it steep for a few minutes.
- Once the kheer has thickened, remove it from heat and let it cool. Add the saffron-infused rose water, mixing well to distribute the flavor.
- Transfer the kheer to serving bowls or a large serving dish.
- Decorate the surface with vark and chopped nuts.
3. Malai Gilori
(Makes 4 servings)
Ingredients
- 500 ml full cream milk
- 100 gm sugar
- 8 almonds
- 8 pistachios
- A few strands of saffron
- 1 tsp rose water
Instructions
- Pour the milk into a wide, heavy-bottomed pan and bring to a boil over medium heat.
- Reduce the heat to low and let the milk simmer. A thin layer of malai will form on the surface. Do not disturb this layer.
- Continue simmering the milk for about an hour, allowing multiple layers of malai to form and the milk to reduce.
- While the milk is reducing, soak the almonds in a small amount of milk along with a few strands of saffron.
- Once the milk has reduced significantly and multiple thick layers of malai have formed, remove the pan from heat and let it cool.
- When cooled, carefully remove the malai layers from the pan and set them aside.
- Chop the soaked almonds and pistachios and add them to a bowl with the sugar and mix. Add a small amount of saffron-infused milk, and rose water and mix well.
- To assemble the Gilori, take a small triangular piece of the cooled malai. Place a little nut mixture in the center. Carefully fold the malai around the filling, similar to folding a paan. If needed, secure it with a toothpick until it holds its shape. Repeat the process with the rest.
- Cover each Gilori with a piece of silver leaf or vark for decoration.
10. Serve the Malai Gilori immediately.