For starters, this is Stewed and Sweetened Apricots Served with Fresh Cream. But for old timers, it is an quintessential way to end a hearty and rich Hyderabadi meal – with Khobani Ka Meetha.
Hyderabadi Khobani Ka Meetha is made with Dried Apricots and is served with Fresh Cream
Call it Khobani, Qobani, Khubani, Qubani ka meetha or anything – it is one of the exotic desserts that should figure out in your ‘must try or rather die’ list. Orchardiers from India may claim that they have good apricots but the best ones come from remote areas of Afghanistan and they remain, till date, sinfully exotic.
Heirloom Recipe for Khobani Ka Meetha:
Dried Apricots – 1 Kg
Sugar – 500 gms
Juice of 1 Lemon
Fresh Cream for Serving
Soak the apricots in water overnight with just enough water to cover.
Boil the apricots in the same water.
Add sugar while boiling. The amount of sugar can be adjusted according to one’s taste. My personal preference is to lower the amount of sugar as it is already a rich fruit.
Add lemon juice. This makes the sugar’s impurities to float on top which can be spooned off and it also increases the shelf-life of the dessert.
Boil till the dry fruit becomes tender and can be squashed to one’s liking. Some like their apricots squashed to paste, while some prefer them whole and soft.
Keep the nutty seeds aside. Crack open the seed shells for obtaining small kernals. Add these kernals to the dessert before serving.
While it is a genreal practice to serve this exotic dessert with icecream or custard, it would be a better idea to stick to the original way to serving it with fresh cream.
Mystic Peace Poet September 10, 2009 at 8:08 am
Hello sweety,
The Khobaani ka metha is my mom’s fav.recipe and she makes is like heaven! Dad loves it also. Now you may not know, my heritage is Afghani, and also Turkish, and having lived in the Middle East….the apricots were juicy and yummy! Hope one day we can meet and share more recipes. I have learned to love food from over the world, and the thing I treasure most is my sweet grandma’s hand written book of recipes.!
I will try and share some with you when I have a website.
Yummy recipes…keep them coming.
Love,
Ansul
Ishrath September 10, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Thats all we need… good friends and good food for the fun times to roll…. LOL
Sra April 7, 2010 at 2:11 pm
Hello Ishrath,
I’m sure I meant to come over and see your post when you left a comment in my Qubani post all those months ago – not sure how or why I didn’t follow through. I first ate this during Id in Hyderabad and now wait for Id to come around to try some haleem and this (in another city where it’s not routinely available.) I like that pic of the apricots, so smooth.
Ishrath April 8, 2010 at 4:39 am
Better later than never, Sra.
If you do plan to sample some haleem this coming Id, you gotta come to my place for the best home made haleem. Wholesome, tasty and not so heavy on the stomach. Will post that recipe sometime soon. Have to coax mom to share it.
diya May 28, 2010 at 7:36 pm
can we make the same desert with a fruit apricot instead of dry apricot?
Ishrath May 29, 2010 at 5:23 am
Diya: I have never tried making this meetha with fresh apricots (as they are not available in this part of the country). But I guess the result will be quite good because in other countries people make fresh apricot preserves which are yummm!
I guess you have to try it and let me know how it was. Good luck to you