Dates and nuts barfi/dates and nuts fudge

A very healthy and nutritious dates and nut  barfi with no added sugar.. that's how i like to describe this.

I had mentioned long ago in one of my posts that you lovely readers(if there are any of u left, who is following my blog.. thanks to my long disappearances!!) that you will see more of dates recipes as i am in the land of dates...and let me tell you , i have recently discovered dates which are available without any processing .. it says original dates... and they taste and look like they have gone into the packet direct from the palms!! So living up to my promise, i bring you an easy and nutritious dates and nut  barfi recipe. The only time consuming process in this is cutting and chopping the dates and nuts,making it is easy..N just did not believe that i had made them... he said they look like they are store bought!! Of course they are not.. as proof i made him cut out a few..:)..he definitely was very very impressed... i wish  i could give them to my lil S, but she has to wait... she is only 10 months old.

So without further stories i go into the recipe( S may wake up any time).

Ingredients

Dates- 2 cups ,roughly 400 gm.

Cashew-50grams

Almonds-50 grams

Walnuts-50 grams

Pistachio-20 grams

Dessicated coconut-25 grams.

Nutmeg-1

Desi Ghee- 2 tblspn

(Refer notes)

Method

* Remove the seeds from the dates and chop them.(it wil be easy to do this with a pair of kitchen scissors)

*Chop all nuts.The pistachios are for garnish.

*Heat a pan and dry roast the nuts except pistachio for 2-3 minutes mixing continously.Remove .

*Now melt the ghee and add in the dates and nuts and dessicated coconut.Mix well.

*Add in the nutmeg powder.

*Mix until all ingredients are well combined.

*Remove from stove andtake it into a plate to let it cool down a little till you can tolerate the heat to make it into big cylindrical rolls.

*Once the mixture has cooled down a  little divide into two apply some ghee on your hands and shape it into a long cylindrical roll( like  a sausage).

*Now spread the chopped or slivered pistachios and roll the cylindrical rolls on them so that the pistachios stick to the rolls.

*Cover these cylindrical rolls tightly into an aluminium foil and fold the ends.

*Refrigerate it for at least 2 hours.This is done so that the burfi sets.

*Remove from refrigerator, take off the foil and cut into pieces 1/2 cm each.

If you feel the barfi is breaking, leave it over night in the fridge or for a few more hours.

Store in airtight containers.

Recipe adapted from -Nishamadhulika.com

Notes:

The original recipe used khas khas(poppy seeds).Poppy seeds are banned in Dubai so there was no way i could get them.The original recipe also used chironjee and elaichi( i ran out of stock)..

I blanched the pistachios.Removed the peel and chopped them.

The original website says it can be stored for 2-3 months.