Chits Kitchen

Balushahi or Badusha recipe is a traditional deep fried sweet recipe prepared from All-Purpose Flour (Maida) and then dipped in Sugar Syrup. It is crispy from outside and soft, moist and tender from inside. Balushahi is one of the most prepared sweet recipes during festive season and weddings. It is most common in North and East India. In South, people call this sweet as Badusha. People of Rajasthan refer it as Makhan Vada. It is a time consuming recipe that takes time to prepare since it involves a number of steps. But it is worth preparing it and you will relish your effort after preparing it.

Preparing Balushahi involves a number of time consuming steps. If you follow these steps, you will enjoy the taste of this recipe. Follow the below steps while preparing this sweet recipe to get soft and tender Balushahi Sweet:

1. Kneading of All-Purpose Flour (Maida): Knead Maida with Ghee, Curd and Water by applying light force. Do not apply too much pressure while kneading like the way you do to prepare dough for roti. Also add Water in batches to knead the dough so that it does not become sticky. If it becomes sticky then add little amount of flour to the dough and then knead it again.
2. Resting Time for the dough: After you prepare the dough, allow it to rest for about 15-20 minutes by covering it with damp cloth. It helps in preparing soft and tender Balushahi.
3. Resting Time for Balushahi Balls: From the dough, prepare small flat balls. Allow these balls to rest for few minutes before deep frying them.
4. Cooking of Balushahi at low temperature: Heat Ghee or Oil at low to medium temperature. Dip the Balushahi into the oil and cook under low to medium temperature only. Cooking under this temperature helps in cooking the Balushahi balls properly. Cook till it is slight golden in colour. It makes the Balushahi crispy from outside and soft from inside.

To prepare Balushahi, first we will prepare its dough. Take the Flour in a large plate or bowl. Add Baking Powder, Baking Soda and Salt. Mix them properly so that all the ingredients are uniformly spread all over the flour. Next add Ghee and Curd. Mix all the ingredients and knead to prepare the dough. Add Water while kneading if required. Remember to add water in batches to prevent it from becoming sticky. Knead the flour lightly to prepare soft dough. Cover the dough with damp cloth and allow it to rest for at least 15-20 minutes.

After resting the dough for about 15-20 minutes, take it and divide it into small parts. Here I have divided it into 16 small parts. Roll the small parts and make flat balls with dent at the centre. Do the same for all the parts. Keep the Balushahi balls aside and allow it to rest again. Till the balls are resting, prepare the Sugar Syrup by adding 2 cups of Sugar to 1 cup of Water. Allow the mixture to boil. Add Cardamom Powder, Rose Water, Lemon Juice and Saffron Strands. Boil the syrup till it thickens. Switch off the flame.

While preparing Sugar Syrup, we have added Lemon Juice to the Sugar Syrup to prevent the formation of solid layer of sugar on the surface of the Balushahi. It happens when the Balushahi cools down. Now heat Oil or Ghee in a deep pan or kadai over low to medium heat. Add the Balushahi balls and deep fry till it is slight golden in colour. Cook the Balushahi under low to medium flame so that it gets cooked properly. It becomes crispy from outside and soft, moist and tender from inside. Take them out from the oil and place them over kitchen towel to absorb excess oil.

The last step is to dip the fried Balushahi into the warm sugar syrup. If the sugar syrup cools down then heat it again. The syrup should be warm while adding the Balushahi into it. It helps in absorbing the sugar syrup easily. Allow the balls to rest in the syrup for at least 20 minutes. After 20 minutes take the Balushahi out from the syrup and serve it by garnishing with Chopped Dry Fruits such as Almonds, Pistachios and Cashews.

You can serve Balushahi warm or by cooling it. Also you can store this sweet recipe for few weeks without getting spoiled. Balushahi or Badusha can be cooked in Ghee or Oil. It depends on your choice. But the real taste of this sweet comes when cooked in Ghee

You can try our other Sweet Recipes such as Rasgulla, Cham Cham, Rajbhog, Malai Chop, Rasmalai, Kalakand, Besan Ki Barfi and Sweet Boondi.

Please try our Breakfast Recipes & Snacks Recipes:

Sandwich Recipes

Parantha Recipes

Pakoda Recipes

Halwa Recipes

Beverages Recipes

Let’s start preparing the Balushahi recipe,

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5 from 6 votes

Balushahi Recipe/Badusha Recipe/How to make Balushahi or Badusha Recipe

Balushahi or Badusha Recipe is a deep fried Indian sweet recipe prepared from All-purpose Flour and then dipped into Sugar Syrup. It is crispy from outside and moist, juicy and tender from inside.

Course Dessert, Sweets

Cuisine North Indian, South Indian

Keyword Badusha, Balushahi

Preparation Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes minutes

Resting Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour

Servings 16 Balushahi

Calories

Author Recipe by Chits

Equipments:

• Deep Pan or Kadai
• Sieve

Ingredients:

For Balushahi:

• 2 cups Maida (All-Purpose Flour)
• 1/4 cup Ghee (For dough)
• 1/4 cup Curd (Dahi/Yoghurt)
• 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1 pinch Baking Soda
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• Water as required (For kneading the dough)
• Ghee or Oil for frying
• 2-3 tablespoon Chopped Dry Fruits (Such as Pistachio, Almonds, Cashews, etc.)

For Sugar Syrup:

• 2 cups Sugar
• 1 cup Water
• 1 teaspoon Cardamom Powder
• 10-12 strands Saffron
• 2 teaspoon Rose Water
• 1 teaspoon Lemon Juice

Instructions:

Preparation of Balushahi Dough:

• With the help of Sieve, take All-purpose Flour (Maida) in a large bowl or a large plate. Large bowl or plate will help in kneading the dough easily.
• Add Baking Powder, Baking Soda and Salt. Mix all of them uniformly.
• Next add Ghee and Curd to the mixture of All-purpose Flour. Mix all the ingredients properly with your hand to make the Maida little moist.
• Now add small amount of Water and mix it with other ingredients.
• Add water in batches so that the dough does not become sticky. Excess water will spoil the dough.
• With the help of your palm, knead the flour lightly to prepare soft dough. Do not knead the dough heavily.
• If required you can add extra amount of water if you feel that the dough is little hard.
• After kneading the dough, allow it to rest for at least 15 minutes by covering with a damp cloth.

Preparation of Balushahi Balls:

• After 15 minutes, remove the damp cloth. Divide the dough into 16 equal parts.
• Take each part and roll them lightly and gently into round smooth balls. Slightly press the balls with your palm to flatten it to form balls of oval shape.
• Take each oval shaped ball and make a dent or hole at the centre of the balls.
• In the same manner make the dent for the remaining oval shaped balls.
• Keep all the Balushahi balls aside in a large plate and cover it with damp cloth.

Preparation of Sugar Syrup:

• Heat deep pan or kadai over medium heat. Add 1 cup water into the pan and allow it to boil.
• Next add 2 cups Sugar and 1 teaspoon Cardamom Powder into the boiling water.
• Boil the water till all the sugar dissolves. Keep stirring in between.
• Now add Saffron Strands, Rose Water and Lemon Juice to the Sugar Syrup.
• Mix them and boil for few minutes more till it becomes slightly thick. Switch off the stove.

Frying of Balushahi Balls:

• Heat Ghee or Oil in a deep pan or kadai over low to medium heat.
• Take the Balushahi balls and dip them into the oil. Fry the balls under low to medium flame.
• After some time the Balushahi will start floating to the surface of the oil. Turn the Balushahi gently to fry from the other side.
• Fry the Balushahi balls till they are slight golden in colour. It should be crispy from outside and should be properly cooked from inside. Keep turning the Balushahi at regular intervals to cook equally from all sides.
• Remove the Balushahi from the oil one by one and place them over paper towel to absorb the excess oil. Now we will dip the Balushahi in Sugar Syrup to prepare the Balushahi sweet.

Preparation of Balushahi or Badusha Recipe:

• Take the fried Balushahi and dip them into the Sugar Syrup. The Sugar Syrup should be warm when the balls are added to it. If the syrup slightly cools down, you can heat it again.
• With the help of spatula, press the balls so that it gets submerged in the sugar syrup.
• After few minutes, turn the Balushahi to the other side. Keep the Balushahi in the sugar syrup for about 15-20 minutes.
  
• After around 15-20 minutes, remove the Balushahi from the sugar syrup and place them in a plate.
  
• Balushahi Recipe is ready to serve. Serve it by garnishing with Chopped Dry Fruits over the Balushahi.
  

Notes:

1. Sugar Syrup should be little warm when you dip the Balushahi in it so that the syrup is easily absorbed by the Balushahi.
2. Heat the Sugar Syrup till it slightly thickens. The syrup should not be much thick or else it will not be easily absorbed by the fried Balushahi balls.
3. If you do not have Saffron strands, you can use Saffron Food colour or Lemon Yellow colour while making the sugar syrup.
4. While kneading the dough, do remember to not over knead it just as we do for preparing dough for roti. Knead lightly and softly for few minutes only.
5. If the flour becomes little sticky while kneading, add small amount of flour and then again start kneading. If the dough is hard, add extra amount of water and then knead it again.
6. We have added Lemon Juice to the boiling Sugar Syrup. It is done so as to prevent the formation of sugar solid layer on the surface of the Balushahi on cooling.
7. Deep fry the Balushahi balls under low to medium heat. It helps in cooking the balls properly from inside. If it is fried in high heat, the outer layer will get cooked but it will remain raw from inside and the taste will not be good.
8. Fry limited number of Balushahi in the kadai to give enough space so that it can expand properly. Do not over crowd the kadai.