Besan Barfi: Spiced & Nutty Chickpea Fudge
Besan Barfi is basically chickpea fudge that tastes scrumptiously yummy thanks to the spice and the nuts. Unlike other recipes alike, this one uses much less sugar so you won’t feel guilty when you eat it more than a piece.
Besan Barfi
Besan Barfi which is also called Besan Ki Barfi is one of the Methai/ mithai (sweet treats) from the Indian subcontinent. This nutty sweet treat will remind you of fudge, but with a spice aroma from cardamom.
The first time I tried chickpea fudge which we bought from Asian sweet shop, I was a bit disappointed. Though I love its texture and richness, I found it way too sweet.
I always love sweets and desserts. It’s my weakness really. But when it comes to mithai, I just couldn’t enjoy it. Not that they’re not good. They’re just too sweet for me.
That’s the reason I learn to make all sorts of mithai. Something that my extended family don’t do really. Because most of them will just go to the shop to get the mithai.
So, if you’re like me who love sweets with the right amount of sweetness i.e. not overly sweet, you must try this Besan Barfi. And if you need more ideas to finish the gram flour that you buy, you can try Besan Ladoos. They’re another mithai made of gram flour.
And if you like fudge, you can try my pumpkin fudge too. It’s scrumptious.
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Simple Ingredients For Besan Barfi
Apart from the gram flour/ chickpea flour, you will need butter, milk powder, cardamom powder, sugar, water and nuts.
I didn’t realize for a long time that different brands of chickpea flour give a different quality of your cooking. So don’t be naive like I was. Choose a good quality besan flour. My favourite is the Jalpur brand. But I don’t mind using Natco or KTC when I can’t get Jalpur.
The obvious difference I see is the texture of the flour is finer. And the flour doesn’t go off very quickly once you open the packaging.
Please bear in mind that gram flour goes bitter after some time. So make sure you use the flour from the freshly opened packet.
As for the butter, most recipes will call for unsalted butter, however, I use salted butter here. Because I find that a little salt in our sweets and desserts actually enhance the flavour. But if you don’t like the idea or prefer your Besan Barfi tastes simply sweet, you can use unsalted butter.
Often you don’t really want to get some extra ingredients for something that you hardly cook. This goes for cardamom powder. In honesty, I don’t really buy cardamom powder. I make it. Because I always have cardamom pods anyway. So what I do is I take the seeds of some pods, put them in my spice grinder and make cardamom powder. If you don’t have the grinder, you can always grind the seeds using a pestle and mortar.
If you want to grind just enough cardamom seeds for this recipe, you will only need the seeds from 4-5 cardamom pods.
When it comes to nuts, you can go as nuts as you want. Choose whichever nuts you love. The traditional ones are almonds or pistachios. But do try hazelnuts, pecan nuts, Brazil nuts, or walnuts. They all make lovely Besan Barfi. My favourite ones are Brazil nuts. And to make your chickpea fudge even nuttier, pan roast your nuts before using. They make the barfi even way better.
Easy Way To Make Chickpea Fudge
Most of the Besan Ki Barfi recipes use the method of roasting the flour together with butter. And this is the original method.
However, I find this method is tiring for my arm. And I’m too lazy to labour myself to make barfi when I can shortcut the way.
So, what I do is I melt the butter in a microwave and pan roast the besan flour on its own. Well, sort of. I mean I put the cardamom powder in the flour to roast together.
This way, it’s easy for me to stir. Also, I find the flavour of the flour is better as the nutty roast smell from the chickpea flour is more obvious. And of course more delicious.
It takes me about 20 minutes to pan roast the flour and cardamom powder. And don’t forget to constantly stir the flour to prevent it from cooking or burning unevenly.
When the flour is nicely roasted, turn the heat off and take the flour off the cooker/ stove. Pour the melted butter into the gram flour and mix it thoroughly. Add in the milk powder and chopped nuts respectively and mix well in between additions.
Halfway through roasting the flour, make the sugar syrup by boiling the sugar and water for about 5-6 until the sugar dissolves and reaches one thread consistency.
Note, one-thread consistency is when the syrup makes one single thread between your index finger and thumb pulled apart.
Then pour the syrup in the besan barfi mixture and quickly stir. Try to mix well and thoroughly as fast as you can.
Spoon the mixture into an oblong tray (10”x7”) and spread it with a spatula. Scatter the nuts over the fudge and lightly press them with the back of the spoon.
Leave the fudge slightly set for about 10 minutes before you cut it into small squares.
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Recipe For Besan Barfi
Besan Barfi: Spiced & Nutty Chickpea Fudge
Equipment
- Cooking pan
- Wooden spoon
Ingredients
- 2 cups gram flour/ besan flour/ chickpea flour.
- 1 cup salted butter melted.
- ½ cup milk powder.
- ½ teaspoon cardamom powder see the note.
- ¾ cup sugar.
- ⅓ cup water.
- ⅓ cup chopped nuts see the note.
Instructions
- Grease an oblong tray 7”x10” and line with greaseproof paper. Set aside.
- Place the gram flour and cardamom powder in a large cooking pan. Cook it at medium-high heat as you keep stirring every now and again to prevent the flour from burning. It takes me about 20 minutes for the gram flour to be nicely roasted with a light golden colour.
- Then turn the heat off and add in the melted butter. Mix well.
- Add the milk powder to the besan mixture and stir until all is blended.
- Stir in the chopped nut in the mixture.
- Make the sugar syrup by heating the sugar and water in a saucepan until the sugar dissolves. Once it boils, let it cook for another 3-4 minutes or until the syrup becomes one-thread consistency. It takes me about 6-7 minutes to make the syrup at low heat.
- To check this, spoon a little syrup with a wooden spoon and carefully touch the syrup from the spoon with your index finger. Then touch the index finger with your thumb. When you pull the fingers apart there should be a single thread formed. If you want to be precise, you can use a food thermometer when you start boiling the syrup. The one-thread temperature is usually just above 100º C/ 212º F but below 110ºC/ 230ºF.
- Pour the syrup into the besan barfi mixture and quickly stir and mix well. Here, we have to work quickly otherwise the besan won’t be evenly sweet.
- Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin, spread and press gently using a spatula or the back of a spoon. Sprinkle and scatter the chopped nuts on top of the barfi. Again, press lightly so the nuts stick nicely.
- Leave it to rest for about 10 minutes before you cut the barfi. But don’t leave it too long or it’ll be harder to cut as the barfi becomes firmer.
Notes
- Choose the full-fat milk powder, please. I tried semi-skimmed, it didn’t turn out nice.
- I always use salted butter as a little salt will enhance the flavour of my sweets. But if you prefer using unsalted butter, you’re more than welcome to swap.
- If you have cardamom seeds and not the powder, just open 4-5 cardamom pods and take the seeds out. Pound and grind the seeds into powder. It should be more than enough for this recipe.
- When it comes to nuts, you can go for any nuts you like. Pistachio, almonds, and cashew are most common. But nuts like pecan, Brazil nuts or walnuts can be the options. So choose according to your taste.
Nutrition
Disclaimer
Nutritional info in this recipe is only estimate using online calculator. You should refer to it as a guide only. Please verify with your own data if you seek an accurate info.
