Afghani Sheer Payra (Afghani Milk Fudge)

Blogging Marathon# 47: Week 4/ Day 3

Theme: Bookmarked Recipes from A-Z International Marathon

Dishes: Afghani Sheer Payra

I'm going to end this month's blogging marathon on a sweet note. I have made this delicious milk fudge from Afghanistan 3 times in the past 1 month. It is that simple to make and quite a crowd pleaser. My husband really liked the fudge because it has a really nice flavor from ground cardamom and rose water.

The only thing that takes time in making this fudge is melting sugar and boiling the syrup and letting the fudge cool -- other than that the whole process is very simple and quick to make. The most important and critical part of successfully making this fudge is the consistency of the sugar syrup. it should not be too thin (fudge won't set) or too thick (fudge would be very very hard). 

The whole dish takes just about 10~15 minutes including the prep time. Make sure to focus 100% on this dish (I got so used to saying this to my 7 year old, can't help myself from saying it here because you need all your concentration when making the fudge). Keeping all the ingredients handy is another important tip.

This fudge just melts in the mouth and is very flavorful with the addition of ground cardamom and rose water.

Ingredients:
Sugar - 1cup
Water - 1cup
Milk Powder - 1½cups (I used Carnation Nonfat Dry milk powder)
Walnuts - ½cup
Almonds - ½cup
Ground Cardamom - 1tsp
Rose Water - 1tbsp
Pistachios - 2tbsp, finely chopped

Method:

• Measure out the milk powder and keep ready. 
• Grind walnuts & almonds into a smooth powder. Add this to the milk powder and ground cardamom; mix well and set aside.
• Grease a 8" square pan or a plate and keep ready.
• Combine water and sugar in a heavy bottomed sauce pan. Once the sugar dissolves and the mixture comes to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 2~4 minutes. Syrup should not thicken too much, it should still be able to flow freely from the spoon.
• Remove the pan from the stove, immediately stir in the milk powder mixture and rose water. Mix well to combine all the ingredients.
• Pour the mixture into the prepared plate and set aside to cool for at least 1 hour. The mixture will thicken and can be cut into squares or diamonds. Store into a airtight container for up to a week.

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners cooked today for BM# 46.