I love making Diwali sweets now, specially since my introduction to them last year. As a child I wasn't the biggest fan, but nowadays I've changed and so have my taste buds. One of the reasons I didn't like Indian sweets was due to the sickly sugary sweet taste, but as I've cut the sugar in half in all my recipes they are definitely more pallet-able. So if you like the traditionally extra sweet the double the sugar!
What is besan you say? Well besan flour is also known as gram flour or garbanzo or chickpea flour. It's a pulse made from ground chickpea or garbanzo beans. Here is a tip - when mixed in equal quantities of besan flour and water it can be used as an egg substitute in vegan baking or cooking.
Besan or Gram flour is a gluten free flour and higher proportion of protein and fibre than other wheat based flours. It;s widely used in India, Asia and Africa in daily cooking.
When I first considered making this burfi out of savory use flour, I did wonder what it would be like. It is probably my favourite Indian sweet I've made so far!
I added desiccated coconut, but that is only optional - can you make it without. I really glad I decided to make this interesting but more-ish sweet.
Ingredients
100g Chickpea flour ( Channa/Besan Flour)
50g Desiccated Coconut
50g Ghee or Coconut oil
165g Coconut Milk ( Small Tin)
300g Sugar
1/4 Tsp Cardamom
In a flat bottom pan add the ghee and melt over medium heat.
Add chickpea flour, coconut, coconut milk and sugar to the pan and stir well.
Stir well and once the sugar has dissolved add cardamom to the pan.
Stir every 5 minutes until you have lots of boiling bubbles and then stir every 2 minutes.
The mixture will start to thicken, becoming thicker when you stir and back to liquid.
Once it gets to the point where you stir and the bottom of the pan is clean and the mixture sticks together and has become semi-solid.
Pour the mixture into a dish quickly and it should come out with even using a spatula.
Sprinkle on coconut over the mixture and then allow to cool for about 10-15 minutes.
While still warm, use a warm knife and slice the mixture into smaller pieces and then allow to cool completely.
Enjoy
Chickpea Fudge ( Besan Burfi)
Chickpea Fudge ( Besan Burfi or Channa Burfi) are perfect Diwali Sweets