Dry fruit burfi (sweet using figs, dates and nuts)

Diwali (festival of lights, victory of good over evil) is celebrated all over India. Lots of sweets are prepared and exchanged with friends during this festival. My niece Veni Sankar suggested that there must be some recipes for making sweets in the blog. So, I am trying to give one or two recipes to make sweets which are healthier, less time consuming.

Most of the Indian sweets are made using lots of sugar, khoa (similar to ricotta cheese) or white flour.
Looking for healthier ingredients, which are both nutritious and tasty, I decided to make Dry fruit burfi, where no additional sugar and very little ghee (clarified butter) are used. This sweet is good for growing children and for senior citizens as well!

Anjeer (figs) are a good source of potassium, which helps in blood pressure control and also contain a lot of dietary fibre. Fibrous foods have a lot of effect on weight management and also sugar control. So I wanted to include anjeer (figs) in the recipe. Khajur (dates) are known to be maintain sugar levels, aid digestion,  prevent anaemia, lower risk of heart disease etc. They are a  good source of vitamins, and other nutrients and known as a very good antioxidants.

Dates, figs, nuts, cardamom etc:

Nuts partially cracked, figs and dates processed together:

Poppy seeds, oats and cracked nuts being roasted:

Figs and date mixture added to the dry mixture:

Burfi (after refrigerating) being cut in to slices:

Ingredients:

•      1 cup anjeer (dried figs)
•      1 cup seedless khajur (dates)
•      3/4 cup walnuts
•      3/4 cup almonds
•      1/3 cup cashews
•      1/2 cup pistachios
•      2 tbsp. khus khus (white poppy seeds)
•      2 tbsp. oats
•      2 tbsp. ghee (clarified butter)
•      1 tsp. cardamom powder

Directions:

1.      Remove the stems and bottom portion of figs. Cut them into 4 pieces
2.      Remove any seeds or top portion of dates and cut into 3 or 4 pieces.
3.      Coarse grind walnuts, almonds, cashews and a few pistas in a food processor.
4.      Grind together dates and figs so that they are mixed well. Need not be completely mashed.
5.      Heat a thick bottomed pan, add ghee.
6.      When ghee melts, add oats and poppy seeds and stir well.
7.      When oats and poppy seeds are turning golden brown, add nuts mixture.
8.      Stir well for a few minutes.
9.      Add dates and fig mixture, and go on mixing everything together.
10.      Turn the heat off.  Add cardamom powder.
11.      Knead well using your hands.
12.      If necessary, you may grease your palms with ghee or oil.
13.      Place the mixture in a plate and knead some more.
14.      Make it into 2 or 3 portions, and knead each one and make a roll.
15.      Roll the cylindrical mixture on pista and almond slivers.
16.      Place each roll on aluminum foil and wrap it around and roll it on a board so that the inside stuff is fully packed.
17.      Leave the rolls in refrigerator for 1 or 2 hours.
18.      Open the foil cover, slice the roll according to your choice thickness.
19.      Dry fruit and nuts burfi is ready for eating!