Badushah

‘Badushah’ is an Indian sweet, known by a few other names in the subcontinent. I love this sweet, one of the few that I truly enjoy eating. My daughter shares my love for badushahs too!

Last year, during the Deepavali season, I decided to prepare badushahs at home. After checking out various recipes and zeroing in on the one that seemed the easiest, I made preparations to get started.

Little dough patties kneaded with fresh yoghurt and other ingredients were neatly arranged.

So far, so good. Next, they had to be deep fried – little golden brown patties emerged, sizzling in oil.

These had to be then dunked in sugar syrup, the hot patties soaking in the sweetness.

After a while, the patties had to be removed from the syrup and placed on a tray to cool, to allow the sugar to solidify into thin sheets of white over each patty. Sprinkling bits of saffron and colourful strands of dessicated coconut on each patty was the last step, and I was done.

The badushahs looked perfect. The heavenly smell of sugar, flour and frying filled the air.

It was time for the children to come back from school, and I couldn’t wait for my daughter to taste the first badushah.

When she walked in, she sniffed appreciatively, and was very excited that I’d made badushahs at home.

She washed and came to try the first one. She bit into the first badushah. Her eyes widened. I waited for her verdict with much anticipation.

Strangely, she didn’t seem to be eating it. I asked her to bite into the badushah.

She took it out of her mouth for a moment and said, “Mom, I am trying hard to bite, but it feels like leather, I am not able to sink my teeth into it.”

My heart broke. I looked at the deceptively good looking badushahs.

I called a couple of friends for ideas. Then I sat down and googled – ‘Tips to repurpose badushahs that did not turn out well’.

This picture, here, is from that day. My badushahs passed the ‘appearance test’ but little else.

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