Homemade traditional indian sweets.....cashew burfi & almond burfi (cashew burfi  shown here)

Next came the grinding of the nuts.  I added a bit of water here and there so that the nuts would be able to form a paste.  I loved that the ingredients didn’t have to be exact - you can just add in a bit of this or a bit of that.  So I had the cashews running in batches in a smaller food grinder & the almonds were churning away all on their own in another larger food processor - thank goodness for food processors! You have to be patient here because grinding the nuts into a paste does take a bit of time.

Next came the cooking.  I cooked 2 separate batches of the cashews because I wanted to have one pink layer and one natural layer.  The only ingredients that I added to the cashews was powdered sugar a bit of ghee some salt and a bit of ground cardamom powder ( and a bit of pink food coloring to one batch)- and when I tasted the mixture it was fudge like and really nutty and just had that taste in it when you know its good.  I gave some to my hubby (who I think was thinking that this would be an interesting experiment I was cooking up) and he was pleasantly surprised - it’s all about the love I tell you! I just loved this process so much - seeing how raw nuts, sugar a bit of butter & spice could come together & make such a delightful treat is what keeps me experimenting & trying out new things.

With the almonds I added the same ingredients as I added to the cashews expect I didn’t add in any coloring - I just left them natural.

Spreading out the cashew mixture.....

Adding the pink layer.....

Finished cashew burfi - cut into diamonds.....finished almond burfi dipped in chocolate and topped with chopped almonds and salt (okay a little creative with this one - don’t know how authentic - but they tasted yummy!)

A little bit on the Diwali festival ....the festival of lights in India.......this year the festival fell on Friday,  November 9th and in the evening we came home and dressed in traditional indian outfits.....the beautiful lengha I wore was a gift from my mother in law at the time of our wedding & a bit of the outfit is shown below.  The lengha was a lovely green shade with embroidery and sequins....very beautiful.  My husband wore the traditional indian clothes as well - called a kurta - his was red with gold embroidery down the front. 

A bit of my lengha I wore for the festival......

We put out lights in the front of our home to welcome the goddess Lakshmi and did a small prayer in our home to bless us with love, prosperity, wealth, and good health.  We then went to my brother in laws home and did prayers there as well & enjoyed the indian sweets as well as a lovely dinner. 

As my husband and I were driving home we talked a bit about the festival and I remarked that it just felt so good to really be able to combine our two cultures - I know my husband has embraced all the american holidays and he fully celebrates them all with me & I’m so glad to be able to also embrace the celebrations that he grew up with as well.  Happy Diwali!!