Shobho Bijoya with Darbesh

During one of my pre-teens Durga puja days, may be on nabami if I am not wrong. I remember having darbesh as sweets/mishti.Darbesh, a more evolved form of boondi ladoos, was being distributed as part of goodie packets for kids and elders as well. Those goodie packets ,which included narkel nadu-Recipe Here , darbesh and some cut slices of fruits and dry fruits, were prepared by Barwari ‘s ( community where local Durga Puja is conducted) leading ladies, specially for kids.But it’s a different story elders were also used to line up to have their share of that goodie packets.
This was way long back and I forgot literally about that until this time. I saw this dry boondi packet in an Asian grocery shop , where I do my grocery shopping once in a while. Now, when I bought that packet, boondi raita was on my mind. I never thought I would perhaps try making a famous sweet from that packet.
I must tell you , my mother still makes boondi from scratch from besan and with jhanjhri- a special type of perforated spatula/ladle used specially for making boondi.Last time when I went back home, even I tried making some boondi from scratch, not as perfect as my mothers but not that bad either.
Now, all that I remembered about darbesh that it’s made up with boonden in Bengali /boondi in Hindi , loads of dried fruits specially cashews/kaju and some khoya.I searched the recipe over the net but cant find any adequate results. So, this is just my first try in making them. DH told me that they turn out quite delicious. Now, it’s your turn to try it out this simple, easy breezy recipe for a sweet, and let me know how it turns out for you.

Below is our Shashti’r niramish meal- luchi , aloor torkari, darbesh and besan ladoos.

Usually sweet boonden/boondi is prepared in sugar syrup and that too from scartch i.e. from besan batter, and then rolled in as ladoos with khoya in Hindi /kheer in Bengali and cashews or may be sometime with kish-mish/raisins.

Here is recipe for darbesh/darvesh (measurements are approximate, as I usually don’t measure it out while making sweets)

Darbesh/Dorbesh/Darvesh

About half a packet of ready-made instant/dry boondi
1 cup of sugar
½ cup of water

For the instant khoya in microwave

Mix in about 1 cup of whole milk powder
About half a can of condensed milk
Microwave at high for 2-3 mints to get a dry crumbly mixture of the above two.
Alternately mix in a pan over stove-top/hob for a dry crumbly mixture.This may take little more time than M/W.

Crush about 1 cup of cashews either in your mixer or with rolling pin
Melt in about 2-3 tbs of butter in a microwave safe bowl .Reserve it for preparing boondi.
Make thick sugar syrup with 1 -1 1/2 cup of sugar and about quarter to half a cup of water. Slowly start mixing this well over stove-top at medium flame. Usually with powdered sugar it takes very less time. I would suggest powdering the sugar in mixer if you are living in India. And here in foreign we do usually get powdered sugar easily.
Add the melted butter to the prepared sugar syrup.
Now slowly start adding about 2-3 tbs of instant boondi and keep mixing it well.
Take off from the flame.
Use up rest of the boondi and keep stirring in the sugar syrup. Cover it and then keep it covered for 5-7mints.
 If you wish you may use some colours as well to highlight darbesh, like yellow or red colour.Dissolve the colour and mix in with some of the prepared boondis , in a separate bowl.And at the time of making ladoos, just mix all the coloured Boondis.

Make sure to stir and mix in between. This will prevent the soggy boondi.
Now crush up about 1 cup of cashews.You may add some crushed cardamom also for a nice aroma.

In a big mixing bowl, or salad bowl. Mix the prepared boondi, instant khoya and cashews, if you wish you may add raisins or sultanas also. Dust some more milk powder approx- 2-3 tbs , so that the boondi mixture can hold itself well.
Clean your hand well and start making ladoos.This much of ingredients will make approx 20-22 ladoos.Ok, add two more, as I tasted some ladoo mixture, as I was making/molding ladoos (yeah, I know sometimes I am little impatient)
Store them refrigerated in an air tight container. Stays fresh for 1 week.

Picture Below is of Ealing Durga Puja in London.

Shobho Vijayadashmi everybody.