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Recipe | Healthy Raisin & Dried Figs Fudge – Perfect Time to Celebrate Just Living

15 November 2012 16 Comments

Healthy Figs & raisin fudge

Festivals to me are to celebrate the happiness that family & friends share together. A perfect time to celebrate just living! In India we have celebrations all round the year. Festival of lights (and sound) – Diwali being one of the major festivals of India everyone look forward to.

Though the festival is same, people all over India follow different rituals to celebrate it. In South India Diwali is celebrated with a sacred bath before dawn followed by prayers, getting blessings from elders and bursting crackers. While in other parts of India it is more of a pompous fun fare with grand Lakshmi Puja during evening hours and buying gold & other metals on Diwali.

I am neither a sweet eater nor a cracker lover and left to myself will not indulge in both on Diwali day. But my hubby makes sure that I make sweets and he buys crackers for children on Diwali, so that they appreciate the importance of festivals & traditions in our culture.

The preparation for the festival begins days ahead in my home with the children and hubby meticulously making list of crackers to be bought while I make a list of sweets and savories to be shared with friends on Diwali.

I was touched when a dear celebrity friend sent a box of sweets well ahead of Diwali with a note ‘Happy Diwali in advance..wanted to remember and wish good friends before anyone else‘ 🙂

From the many sweets and savories I made for the festival this Dried fruit fudge was the winner. Mom used to make this fudge or what we call as ‘Burfi’ during winter time with just Figs, nuts and lots of sugar in it. This chewy fudge was one of our favorite pass time snacks.

Over the years I brought in some changes to her recipe by avoiding sugar and making Raisin as the star ingredient in the fudge. The slightly sweet & sour taste that raisins impart to the recipe is what makes this fudge a special sweet.

Recipe | Healthy Figs & Raisin Fudge

Overnight soaked dried fruits…plump and juicy.

Ingredients;

  • 1 cup Raisins
  • 10-12 dried Figs
  • 5 Dates
  • 1/4 cup chopped nuts (Almonds/Pistachios)
  • 2 tbsp. Olive oil or Ghee
  • 2 Tbsp. Palm sugar/white sugar
  • 1 tsp. Vanilla essence

Recipe | Healthy Figs & Raisin Fudge

Method; Soak raisins, dried figs and dates in cold water overnight or in warm water for 4 hours. I like to soak the ingredients overnight as the dried fruits become more soft and are easy to grind, though it takes a little extra time to cook to reduce the excess water in the paste.

Remove from the water and grind all the three dried fruits into fine paste.

Chop Almonds and Pistachios and dry roast for 5 minutes on medium heat.

Recipe | Healthy Figs & Raisin Fudge

Heat a thick bottom wok/kadai and add oil or ghee (clarified butter) in it. Pour the ground paste of dried fruits and cook it on medium heat. It will take about 10-15 minutes for the puree to thicken depending upon the water content in ht paste.

Add chopped nuts, palm sugar and keep cooing for another 10 minutes. The mixture should form a soft ball and should not stick to the sides of the wok.

Recipe | Healthy Figs & Raisin Fudge

Take out the wok from the fame and add vanilla essence in it.

Recipe | Healthy Figs & Raisin Fudge

Grease a flat rectangular plate or baking tray with a little oil and empty the soft dough on it. Flatten the fudge with a flat ladle or hands if you can to spread it evenly all over the tray.

Recipe | Healthy Figs & Raisin Fudge

 And the festivity begins in the morning ….my son with one hand to close ears and the other to burst crackers 🙂

Recipe | Healthy Figs & Raisin Fudge

Night show on the terrace….

Recipe | Healthy Figs & Raisin Fudge

Slice the healthy dried fruit fudge into square shape and decorate it with edible silver foil or dust it with powder sugar.

Notes;

  1. You can reduce or increase the sugar content in the recipe, sugar gives a sheen to the fudge.
  2. Avoid or add any dried fruits as you wish to make a recipe of your own.
  3. Take care not to over cook or cook the fudge on high flame to avoid the dried fruits puree get burnt.
  4. Avoid water to grind the soaked dried fruits, it will take longer time to cook the fudge.
  5. Use a mix of raisins which are slightly sour (light colored) and the dark sweet raisins or sultanas in the fudge recipe.

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16 Comments »

  • Suma Rowjee said:

    I am very much a dessert loving person, though crackers are not really my thing…your fudge looks very inviting,would love to try it sometime!

  • dassana@veg recipes of india said:

    healthy treat… wish you and your family season’s greetings.

  • Priya said:

    Belated diwali wishes to you and your family.Wat a catchy and quite an energy booster fudge. Missing those crackers here else we had a simple diwali celebration.

  • Nandita said:

    Fantastic fudge!! Brilliant styling 🙂

  • MaryMoh said:

    These look so healthy and delicious. Love it! Thanks very much for sharing.

  • Asmita said:

    Happy Diwali and a Prosperous New year! Fig and raisin fudge looks awesome and so healthy too!

  • Sylvie @ Gourmande in the Kitchen said:

    This is my kind of fudge, in fact I already have all the ingredients on hand!

  • mjskit said:

    Happy Diwali! Sounds like y’all had a great time! I’m just like your son. I always covered my ears and popped firecrackers. 🙂 What a fabulous healthy and tasty snack. As I was reading the recipe I was thinking that you could use just about any dried fruit and then you added that in the notes. Bobby doesn’t like figs, but I know, with another fruit, he would love this as would I. We neither one are crazy about regular fudge because it is too sweet, so I’m trying to find healthier alternative and I just found one. Thanks!!!!

  • Meeta said:

    I love dates and figs so this is something I just have to make. Time to celebrate the fudge and a begin of a new week ;o)

  • Dhruv @ HealthCage said:

    Today, I get to know about some really amazing recipes.. And this one is the list 🙂

    Thanks!

  • Anamika | madcookingfusions said:

    I love figs and raisins too, I need to try this fudge soon :)! Love it.

  • Kiran said:

    This is the best Diwali recipe ever, will have to give it a go. I am always looking for healthy Diwali sweets.

  • Terra said:

    I love the look of your fudge, it really wouldn’t last in my home! It looks like it would be a perfect traveling snack. Yum, Hugs, Terra

  • Nami | Just One Cookbook said:

    Figs and raisin – I love them and what a nice healthy and delicious fudge! Hope you had a nice Diwali celebration!

  • Abdul said:

    These look fantastic! What an awesome idea I can’t wait to try this!

  • Jayasri said:

    Beautiful clicks, missed a few posts because of ill health.., yummy looking fudge..,

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