Singhara barfi recipe – Singhara barfi or water chestnut fudge is speciality of navratri food. This vrat special barfi is made from singhara flour. The unique loopy flavour of this barfi is delicious and one to look forward to when fasting on a hindu fast.
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What is singhara
Singhara or singhada or waterchest nut in its raw form is crunchy on bite. It is a tuber vegetable and grown in muddy water, and contain carbohyderates, fibre, vitamins and minerals in its raw form. Many people will it it raw, some may eat it by boiling. I certainly enjoy them in both raw and boiled form, though these are not available in UK, I look forward to eat these when I go to India in its harvest season, mostly winters.
Singhara Barfi
Singhara barfi is a fudge made from singhara flour or atta (hindi or flour). Water chestnuts are dried and then made to flour. This singhara flour is considered suitable to eat during Hindu fasts, such as Navratri, shivratri, ekadashi, etc. This barfi offers energy boost post fasting day long. Singhara flour has carbs, fibre and protein primarily, however with barfi when sugar is added it offers sugar rush too.
This barfi is easy to make and requires less or no time for pre-cooking preparation. With just 3 core ingredients this is something which u can make on first day and keep till last day of Navratri.
I recall my days as kid when my mum would make this singhara barfi during navratri days and I will wait to eat this, immaterial of the fact if am fasting or not. I can now see same pattern with my 8 years old daughter, she waits to have this barfi whenever this is made. It is so good that even my 2 year old loves to have it, thanks to the softness of this fudge that my 2 year old can enjoy this.
Ingredients
This barfi requires only handful of ingredients.
- Singhara flour – You can get this flour from any Indian super store, its widely available in UK and US
- Sugar – Sugar offers the sweetness to this barfi
- Ghee – I recommend usage of pure ghee for this barfi, as it offers great taste to this budge and also gives the grease to avoid stickiness.
Key Tips for this Singhara Barfi
- You can make this barfi in advance, as this barfi has long shelf life if you keep it under refrigeration. It can last up to 7-8 days.
- Though the recipe only needs 3 core ingredients, you can add cardamom powder for added flavour and use desiccated coconut to decorate it on top of the barfi.
- Constant stirring of the pan is required when making this barfi, as the flour tends to stick. Keep stirring the pan with the laddle.
- Only add luke warm water, using cold or hot water will make this barfi lumpy.
Method of making Singhara Barfi
- Take a heavy bottom pan and put it on medium flame. Add butter/ghee to it. Once ghee is warm add Singhada / water chestnut flour to it.
- Slowly roast this with constant stirring. When it changes colour and start oozing ghee, switch off the flame. It took around 8 minutes for me to roast it.
- Now add lukewarm water to it slowly and keep stirring so that it won’t make any lump. When mixed put it on medium flame again and stir constantly.
- After 5 minutes when it’s little thick add sugar and cardamom powder and stir it for 5 minutes more. Once it’s thick and start leaving sides of pan, switch off flame.
- Your fudge is ready. You can serve it according to your choice. I like it in pieces. So I transferred the fudge on a greased tray and garnished some desiccate coconut on it. And after its little cooled, cut it into pieces.
How to make this barfi sugar free
Many of my readers ask me how to make a sweet sugar free. I will recommend using sugar-free sweetner as agaisnt to sugar in the recipe, you may like to check the quantity of such sweetners, to find the right level of taste. Barfi tastes best when sweet, however please eat sugar in moderation if you are advised by your doctor to do so.
Is this vegan?
Yes, this water chestnut recipe is vegan, only thing you need to look into is, ghee. Your ghee needs to be vegan!
This singhara barfi
- Requires only 3 key ingredients.
- Takes less than 20 mins to make, so quick!
- This recipe is super easy to follow and no need for special equipments.
- This is absolutely gluten-free and suitable for people on gluten free diet
- Can be prepared in advance and kept refrigerated.
Storage and serving suggestion
Let the burfi mix get to room temperature and then cut into desired shape, subsequently keep it in an airtight container inside refrigerator.
Serve this barfi as dessert post meal or as part of meal in your fasting plate.
Other Navtari Recipes
You can explore host of other food recipes that you can bring to best use during Navratri or other fasting days from this special complied page of Navratri | Fasting Food recipes where I have got variety of scrumptious, yet simple recipes.
Singhara Barfi
Ingredients
- 1/2 Cup Singhara Flour
- 1/3 Cup Sugar
- 1.5 Cup Water
- 2 Tbsp Ghee / Clarified Butter
- 1/4 Tsp Cardamom Powder
Instructions
- Take a heavy bottom pan and put it on medium flame. Add butter/ghee to it. Once ghee is warm add Singhada / water chestnut flour to it.
- Slowly roast this with constant stirring. When it changes colour and start oozing ghee, switch off the flame. This should take around 7-8 minutes to roast it.
- Now add lukewarm water to it slowly and keep stirring so that it won't make any lump. When mixed put it on medium flame again and stir constantly.
- After 5 minutes when it's little thick add sugar and cardamom powder and stir it for 5 minutes more. Once it's thick and start leaving sides of pan, switch off flame.
- Your fudge is ready. You can serve it according to your choice, I like it in pieces, hence I transferred the fudge on a greased tray and garnished some desiccate coconut on it. And after its little cooled, cut it into pieces.
Notes
- Always add water when it’s lukewarm. In case water is Hot/Cold it would make lumps in fudge.
- The key thing of this fudge is constant stirring from start till end.