Badushaa

Badushaah can be very tasty and some times quite bland too. It all depends on the consistency of the dough as well as the perfection with which sugar syrup is absorbed by it. If it comes to a perfection it can be a real treat to our pallette. It is my mom's favourite sweet dish too.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup  Ghee
2 tablespoons Yogurt
1/8th tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp Cardamom powder
water for kneading the dough
Oil for frying the Vadas

For the Sugar Syrup

1 cup Sugar
1/2 cup water
3-4 pods Cardamom
1/2 tsp lemon juice

Method

For the dough

Start with sifting the flour, soda & cardamom powder together a couple of times.

Now add the Ghee and Yogurt and start kneading . The flour will be crumbly but will start getting together . When the ghee and yogurt is well combined in the flour, sprinkle some water and try to bring the dough together. The dough should be soft but not smooth. We do not have to knead the dough for a long time to make it smooth. All we need to do is bring the dough together in a lump that will take only 1-2 minutes. You will see a lot of crackles in the dough. when the dough is done , cover & keep it aside for 20-25 minutes.
After the waiting time is over knead the dough again for 1 minute light handedly . Divide the dough in 10-12 equal parts and roll them gently into small balls. We do not need to make perfect balls as we need the edges of the dough to be imperfect with a lot of crackes so they cook well in the oil. Once the dough is rolled into a ball make a dent in the centre with your finger .

For Frying the vadas, heat oil in a wok. Now comes the tricky part, the oil should be medium hot. To test if the oil is  hot enough drop a pinch of dough into the oil , the dough should sizzle but come up very slowly , if the dough comes up immediately means the oil is too hot - in this case switch off the heat for a couple of minutes .
If the oil is perfect , at first the vadas will just sink into the oil & the oil will sizzle a little, it will take about 2 minutes for the vadas to puff up and start to float on the oil. Do not touch or try to turn the vadas at this time , let them fry on one side for 4-5 minutes and then turn. It will take about 15 minutes for one batch of 6 vadas to fry perfectly pink.
In the meantime make the sugar syrup on the other stove by adding 1/2 cup of water to 1 cup of sugar. Add the cardamom pods and  lemon juice ,make the sugar syrup to one thread consistency , keep aside.

Once all the vadas are done frying, put them in sugar syrup( I added a pinch of saffron in the sugar syrup too) and turn them very gently with a spatula so they soak the syrup on al sides. Let the Makkhan vadas sit in the syrup for about an hour. Garnish with Pistachios and saffron strings. The vadas are very very soft and flaky and  just melts in the mouth like butter.