The festival of Diwali, also known as Deepawali, is all about attractive lights, beautiful candles, diyas (oil lamps), sweets and snacks, bursting of firecrackers and indulging in lots of laughter, fun and merriment. As kids, the occasion of Diwali was all about indulging in our favorite home-made traditional dishes such as dahi-wada, chole, aloo tikki, mawa kachori, karanji, laddoos, mathiya, gajar ka halwa, gulab jamun and more. However, among all these sumptuous food preparations, the one item that topped our list was besan ki barfi, which was usually prepared by our mothers or grandmothers. An Indian sweet that combines the goodness and richness of gram flour, ghee as well as sugar, besan ki barfi was my favorite sweet and I always ate it to my heart’s content.
So, if you are planning to brighten up your Diwali with some amazing sweet dishes, then below check out my mother’s version of ‘besan ki barfi’:
Please note: You need to be extremely careful while preparing this sweet, as the moment you lose your attention, you will end up preparing an entirely different version of the barfi that of course will go down in the drain.
Ingredients Required
- Sugar- 1 cup or around 200 gms
- Green Cardamoms-6 or a teaspoon of cardamom powder
- Besan-2 cups or 200-210 gms
- Desi Ghee-half a cup or 125 gms
- Almonds-5 chopped or sliced
- Cashews: 5 chopped or sliced
- Magaz or Melon Seeds-1 tablespoon (Optional)
- Ghee-for greasing the pan
Preparation:
Next you need to grease the pan/tray with ghee. Alternatively, you can use butter paper as well.
- Take around half a cup of ghee in a kadhai and allow it to melt. Make sure that 2nd an your gas flame is low.
- After the ghee melts, add 2 cups of besan gradually. Don’t forget to roast the besan evenly.
- Add the first part of besan along with some ghee and follow the same procedure for second and the remaining parts.
- Mix all the content of the kadhai well and keep stirring until the besan absorbs all of ghee. (You will notice that the mixture will get thick).
- Stir it well until the besan gets granualr.
- After a couple of minutes, you will notice that the mixture has molted and ghee is released on the sides of the kadhai/pan.
- You will have to stir as well as fry the besan until it begins to produce a nutty and nice aroma. Soon the color of the mixture will turn dark golden.
- Make sure you stir the besan well or it will taste raw later.
- After you’ve roasted the besan, you must keep the kadhai/pan aside.
- Now add one teaspoon of cardamom powder to this mixture and mix it well.
Preparation of Sugar Syrup
- Take a separate pan and add a cup of sugar and around half a cup of water.
- Put this pan on the gas on a medium-low flame.
- Stir with the spoon and wait until the sugar starts dissolving.
- Cook on the medium flame until the syrup starts boiling.
- Now check if the syrup is 2/3 in consistency.
- After the syrup reaches the required consistency, you must pour it on the mixture of besan.
- After you’ve poured the entire sugar syrup on the mixture, you need to mix all the content together quickly as well as vigorously. (If you fail to do so the besan mixture would harden).
- Apart from thickening, you will also notice reduction in the quantity of mixture.
- You need to pick the pan that you had greased earlier and pour the entire besan mixture on this pan/tray.
- Sprinkle some chopped cashews, melon seeds and almonds on the top of this mixture.
- Use a spatula to stick the nuts on the barfi.
- Keep the tray aside until it gets warm.
- While the mixture is warm, slice it in the shape of barfi or cubes.
- Store these barfis in a container and enjoy it for an entire week.
That’s it your delicious besan ki barfi is ready to be served. Serve them to your near and dear ones on the occasion of Diwali and give them a perfect reason to celebrate and rejoice.
-Puja Bhardwaj