Besan Halwa
Besan halwa is a rich and nutty traditionla indian dessert made with besan (gram flour), ghee, sugar, milk and water. Gluten free recipe!
Ingredients
- 7 tablespoon ghee measure after melting, divided
- ⅓ cup chopped nuts use nuts of your choice, I used almonds, cashew nuts & pistachios
- ½ cup (~75g) besan gram flour
- 6-7 tablespoon granulated sugar adjust to taste
- ⅔ cup water
- ½ cup full fat milk
- 2 pinches green cardamom powder elaichi powder
Instructions
Preparation
- Before you start making besan halwa, measure out all the ingredients. Sieve the besan, mix water and milk and chop the nuts. You cannot leave the besan unattended while its roasting.
Make besan halwa
- Heat 1 tablespoon ghee in a heavy, thick bottomed pan (preferably non stick, cast iron or iron) over medium heat
- Add chopped cashew and almonds and toast over low medium heat till lightly browned. Transfer nuts to a small bowl and keep aside.
- Add the remaining ghee to the pan. Let melt over low medium heat.
- Next, add the ½ cup of besan to the melted ghee. Mix well and roast it on low to medium flame while stirring continuously to avoid lumps and to ensure even roasting.
- Roast until the besan turns pinkish brown or golden brown. You will smell a wonderful nutty aroma. This process of roasting besan in ghee can take around 10-15 minutes.
- Once the besan is golden & you smell a nice aroma, reduce the heat to low and with one hand, add the water & hot milk mixture to the roasted flour while stirring continuously with the other hand. You will have to to work fast and be careful since the mixture may splutter.
- The besan will absorb the liquid within minutes and will be thickish and dull brown in color. Add the sugar now.
- As the sugar melts the besan will again become slightly loose. After you have added sugar, bhuno the halwa on low heat with continuous stirring until the halwa reaches a smooth texture and starts leaving the sides of the pan and clumping around the stirring spoon. You will also see that the color of halwa becomes deeper. Takes about 6-8 minutes. This is important coz, if you dont bhuno the halwa after adding sugar, it will become sticky.
- Add a few pinches of green cardamom powder and optionally you may add 1 tablespoon of ghee for a glistening finished look.
- Remove the pan from heat and dish out the halwa into serving bowls.
- Garnish with the nuts that we toasted earlier. Serve besan halwa warm.
Notes
5 Tips for making best besan halwa
- Sieve The Besan - This step ensures that your besan is lump-free to start with. Because it is very finely ground, packaged besan gets lumpy while sitting on the store shelf as well as in our pantry as it sits. Sieving helps in achieving a smooth and uniform texture of the halwa.
- Roast on low flame - This is one of the most important step in making any sweet with besan. Roasting on low flame helps the flour to roast evenly and helps to achieve a nutty aroma. If you roast on high heat, the nuttiness of besan won't come out properly and that affects the taste of the halwa. If besan is not roasted properly, it cannot be fixed once sugar and water has been added. Put on good music and be patient while roasting the besan.
- Consistent Stirring While Roasting - Continously stir the besan mixture while roasting in ghee. Since besan is finely ground, this prevents besan from sticking and burning at the bottom of the pan. If the besan is burnt even a little bit, your halwa will have blackish specks that do not look appetizing. Roasting until besan is pinkish or golden brown in color is the what we want to achieve. Please refer to the images of roasted besan that I have included later in this post.
- Ghee Quantity - Don't skimp on ghee when making anything with besan be it sweet or savory recipes. If the quantity of ghee is not right, your halwa will taste dry and stick to back of the throat while eating.
- Stir & Add Liquid (Water + Milk) Simultaneously - Once you add water and milk to the hot besan, the chances of besan forming lumps is very high. Add the water & milk mixture to small jar with spout and pour while mixing the besan continously. Never ever lumps will form in your besan halwa if you do it simultaneously.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!