SHAHI TUKDA

INGREDIENTS:

Bread -1 packet
Milk - 1.5 liters
Sugar - 1cup + 6 tbsp
Oil - for deep frying
Ghee - 2 tbsp
Chopped Almonds(blanched and deskinned) and Cashews - For garnishing
Cardamom Powder
Saffron - a pinch
Water - 1 cup

PREPARATION:

1.Preparing the Bread:

             Take the bread pieces out of the packet and air dry it at least for a day. If there is moisture in the bread  it will absorb lots of oil while frying. So its better if the bread is dry.

            Cut the corners of the bread and cut it into squares.

            Take Oil in a pan for deep frying the bread. Add two tbsp of ghee in the oil. Deep fry the bread pieces until golden brown and keep it aside and allow the oil to drain properly. After frying all the bread pieces fry the almonds and cashews in the same oil. 

2. Preparing the Rabdi:

        Take the milk in a sauce pan and boil it mixing in between until the milk reduces to one third of its volume. Soak the saffron in a tbsp of hot milk. Add the saffron milk, cardamom powder and 6 tbsp of sugar in the reduced milk and boil until the sugar melts. Switch off the flame and allow the milk to cool. 

3. Preparing the Sugar Syrup:

      Take a cup of sugar and a cup of water in a pan and boil it until the sugar melts properly and comes to a rolling boil. There is no need to cook for long to any syrup consistency. Switch off the flame. Start assembling while the sugar syrup is hot so that the bread will absorb the syrup properly.

4. Assembling :

   Take a deep rectangular pan. Take a slice of fried bread and dip it in the sugar syrup and arrange it in the pan. After making a layer of bread pour the rabdi on top it with a spoon. Make another layer of bread and then rabdi. Finish it off by garnishing with fried almonds and cashews. 

    Chill overnight and serve. 

TIPS:

• Drying the bread is very important. Otherwise the bread will become oily.
• The bread can be fried in ghee but it will make the dish very heavy.
• The rabdi should be sweetened mildly as we are soaking the bread pieces in sugar syrup also. 
• The sugar syrup should be hot while assembling and the rabdi should be warm. So that the bread will soak all the milk.