Badusha – a popular South Indian sweet made with plain flour, butter, yogurt. These bite size Indian sweet is also known as Balushahi. Mini bite size patties is fried till crispy and soaked in sugar syrup to create crispy yet flaky layers. Follow all the tips and tricks for the perfect badusha to celebrate this Diwali with a special sweet note.

Badusha
I know we all would be very busy in this festive season. And we all need some easy sweet recipes on hand to make it work. This recipe would be so easy to make and taste so amazing.
Badusha has been requested in this blog for quite a long time. I have tried badusha so many times and it has never failed me. All you need is to follow few tips and techniques to create flaky layers. Check this detailed blog post to learn all the tips and tricks.
About Badusha (Balushahi)
Badusha or Balushahi is a popular Indian sweet which is a must try for this Diwali. Badusha is a sweet sugary dripping sweet. It is made with basic ingredients like flour, butter, sugar and baking soda. The techniques is what makes it unique and flaky.
Badusha looks very similar to glazed doughnuts. But the texture is not spongy, instead it is moist and soft with flaky interior and sugary exterior.
Balushahi is made with a flour, butter dough, similar to a shortcrust pastry dough. But it has yogurt and baking soda added. Dough is divided into small pieces, rolled into balls, flatten slightly and fried till crispy. Fried doughnuts is soaked in sugar syrup to create a sugary interior.
Badusha Method
- Make dough
- Take small portion, flatten it.
- Fry till golden brown.
- Make sugar syrup.
- Soak the badusha in syrup.
- Serve.
Similar Recipes,
Jangri
Mysore Pak
Carrot Halwa
Watch Badusha Video
Badusha Ingredients

Plain Flour – refined flour is used for making dough. Wheat flour cannot be substituted for plain flour.
Butter & Oil – mix of soft butter and oil creates flaky layers. Butter and oil is mixed with curd and sugar. This is mixed with flour to create short crust pastry.
Sugar – little amount of sugar is added in dough and made into syrup.
Curd | Yogurt – Tenderises the dough and makes flaky balushahi.
Baking Soda – helps to make balushahi soft. Don’t add too much baking soda.

How to Make Badusha (4 Easy Steps)
Making Dough
Cream butter, oil, sugar, yogurt and baking soda together. Add flour and mix into the butter. Add in water little at a time and mix till smooth dough. Let it rest.
Making Sugar Syrup
Cook sugar with water till one string consistency. Flavour as per your requirement and set aside warm.
Shaping Badusha
Divide into small balls. Flatten it and make a dimple in the center.
Frying Badusha
Fry badusha in low medium hot oil till golden and crispy. Remove and add to syrup. Strain the badusha and garnish with chopped pistachios.

Expert Tips for Soft Badusha
- The ingredient measurement are very important. If you mess with that then your badusha will get hard.
- Don’t add too much oil or butter, if you add too much of them, then your badusha will crumble when you drop them in oil.
- Don’t knead the dough so much, just knead it till it gets little soft and leave it aside.
- The dough should be soft but very easy to work with. It shouldn’t be sticky.
- Resting the dough is important.
- Don’t let the oil smoke at any point. Frying badusha can take some time, so be patient and fry on a low heat till it is nicely coloured.
- You can store the badusha at room temp in an air tight container for 2 to 3 days. Refrigerate it for more shelf life.

How to Make Badusha (Stepwise Pictures)
Making Badusha Dough
1)Take some soft butter in a bowl, you can melt them if needed, I used white butter. You can use unsalted or salted butter.

2)Add in oil. Addition of oil in badusha dough makes it flaky and soft.

3)Add in curd or yogurt.

4)Add in sugar. Since I used unsalted butter, I added a pinch of salt in my badusha dough. If you are using salted butter you can skip salt. Mix sugar into the butter, curd and oil mixture till it dissolves.

5)Add in baking soda.

6)Mix curd and butter mixture with baking soda. Mix baking soda till it gets foamy.

7)Add in plain flour.

8)Rub the plain flour into the curd and butter mixture till it resembles crumbly texture.

9)Add a splash of water and bring the dough together.

10)Don’t over knead the dough, just with gentle motion knead the dough till soft. Now let the dough rest for 15 mins till you make the sugar syrup.

Making Sugar Syrup
11)Take sugar in a sauce pan.

12)Pour in water over the sugar.

13)bring it to boil, and cook till 1 string consistency.

14)If you take some syrup between your thumb and fore finger and stretch it. one string should form. This is the stage.

15)Now add in cardamom powder and keep the syrup warm.

Shaping Badusha
16)Now take the dough and divide it into small balls.

17)Take a portion of dough. Roll it into a smooth ball, don’t press too much when shaping into ball.

18)Flatten it and make a hole in the centre. The hole will helps to prevent the badusha from cracking.

19)Do this for all the badusha dough.

Frying Badusha
20)Now heat oil for deep frying. The oil should never smoke, the heat has to be moderately hot. First test the oil, drop a small dough into the oil. First it should sink , then rises immediately. This is the right temperature.

21)Drop 4 to 5 badusha at a time and immediately reduce the heat to the lowest as possible.

22)Cook for 7 to 10 mins till is light golden coloured and cooked. Don’t increase the flame. It should be always on low.

23)Once the badusha is fried. Dip the fried badusha in sugar syrup for few minutes on each side.

24)Remove the soaked badusha on a plate and set aside for few minutes for the sugar syrup to harden.

25)Serve.

📖 Recipe Card
Badusha | Balushahi Recipe | How to Make Flaky Badusha
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Servings: 20 Badusha
Calories: 147kcal
Instructions
-
Take butter, oil, sugar, curd, baking soda in a bowl and mix well. Once it is mixed, add in flour and mix well, to it resembles bread crumbs..Now add in water little by little and mix well to a soft dough. Allow this dough to rest for 15 mins while you make the sugar syrup.
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Take sugar and water in a pan and mix well. Put it on heat and bring it to boil. Cook till it reaches one string consistency. If you take some syrup between your thumb and fore finger and stretch it a string should form. This is the stage. Now add in cardamom powder and keep the syrup warm. Dont boil too much.
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Now take the dough and divide it into small balls. Take a ball, flatten it and make a hole in the center. Make all the dough like this.
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Now heat oil for deep frying. The oil should never smoke..First test the oil, drop a small dough into the oil, first it should sink , then rises immediately. This is the right consistency. Drop 4 to 5 badusha at a time and immediately decrease the heat to the lowest as possible and cook for 7 to 10 mins till is light golden coloured and cooked. Don’t increase the flame.It should be always on low.
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Now drain it and add it to the syrup Let it soak for 2 mins. Drain it and set aside.
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Take some chopped pista and sprinkle over the badusha.
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Leave the basusha for 2 hours them enjoy.
Notes
- The ingredient measurement are very important. If you mess with that then your badusha will get hard.
- Don’t add too much oil or butter, if you add too much of them, then your badusha will crumble when you drop them in oil.
- Don’t knead the dough so much, just knead it till it gets little soft and leave it aside.
- The dough should be soft but very easy to work with..It shouldn’t be sticky.
- Resting the dough is important.
- Don’t let the oil smoke at any point. Frying badusha can take some time, so be patient and fry on a low heat till it is nicely coloured.
- You can store the badusha at room temp in an air tight container for 2 to 3 days. Refrigerate it for more shelf life.
Nutrition
Serving: 1badusha | Calories: 147kcal | Carbohydrates: 28g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 6mg | Sodium: 30mg | Potassium: 15mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Sugar: 20g | Vitamin A: 73IU | Vitamin C: 0.03mg | Calcium: 5mg | Iron: 0.5mg
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