Besan ka Halwa (Chickpea Flour Dessert)

Besan ka halwa is a gluten-free Indian dessert made of chickpea flour, ghee, jaggery, milk, milk solids and nuts. It is soft, aromatic and easy to make. Perfect for serving on special holidays and festivals like Diwali, Holi and Eid!

If you like traditional Indian sweets, try panjeeri. It's a granola like mixture of whole wheat flour and semolina roasted in ghee and topped with lots of nuts and seeds.

Can you resist this soft and sweet besan halwa with the sheen of pure ghee and a topping of nuts? If you can, you've got to be super-human!

We're talking north Indian sweets here. If you relish them you will turn to mush in the face of this sweet, roasted delight called halwa.

It's unbelievable how quickly it comes together in 3 easy steps and 30 minutes including the prep:

• Brown the chickpea flour in ghee.
• Pour the hot milk mixture (the rest of the goodies are added to the milk) into the flour.
• Roast the whole lovely mass until thick and shiny.

A fair warning though. Be prepared for a lot of oohs and aahs when you're making besan sweets like this one. If you've cooked with ghee before, you know that it has this exquisite, heady aroma that lingers on long after you're done cooking. And when chickpea flour is roasted in it? Omigosh! Utterly. Butterly. Delicious.

Also, it makes you feel better when you have the sniffles. You just need to make it as a drink called 'besan ka sheera' (same ingredients in different proportions). See the FAQs for the exact recipe.

Why this recipe works

1. It's easy + quick - no endless steps plus comes together in less than 30 minutes.

2. It's a gluten-free halwa + it has no artificial ingredients, not even sugar if you opt to make it with jaggery. Just lots of goodness!

3. It's super-tasty - chickpea flour roasted in ghee and jaggery gives this halwa an exquisite taste and aroma that is to die for.

4. It's customizable - you can make it with 4 ingredients only (chickpea flour, ghee, milk and jaggery) and still get a really great tasting, no-frills dessert. Besan halwa with jaggery tastes yum, but if you don't want to use it, plain ol' brown sugar will work as well!

5. It's great for serving on festive occasions like Diwali, Holi or Eid. These are the times you don't mind indulging a bit, and seriously, who would be able to resist this soft and sweet halwa? 

What goes into this besan halwa recipe?

• Chickpea flour, also known as Gram flour or Besan - a fine, golden flour made of ground chickpeas.
• Ghee or Clarified Butter - used in sweet and savory Indian dishes. If you want to know more about ghee as well as how to make it at home, here's a helpful article by DrAxe.com.
• Jaggery or Gur - a popular natural sweetener used in south-east Asia. Jaggery is caramel in color and has a rich, sugary flavor. It is made from the sap of palm trees or sugarcane juice and has a much better nutritional profile than white sugar. Intrigued? To know more about jaggery, read this informative article by Huffington Post - What exactly is jaggery anyway?
• Milk Solids or Khoya (also called Mawa) - dried milk solids made by evaporating milk. Khoya is added very commonly to sweets in north India for a richer flavor and taste. It is available in packaged slabs in any Indian store and can be frozen too! I usually buy mine fresh and then freeze it. For this recipe, I just took out the frozen slab, thawed it in warm water for 5 minutes and grated it so that it would mix evenly with the rest of the ingredients.
• Milk - fresh and whole
• Nuts - almonds and cashews, chopped
• Cardamom powder - I buy the seeds and grind them in a mortar and pestle in the quantity required (for this recipe, just half a teaspoon).

Note: all the ingredients are easily available in most big chain supermarkets, Indian grocery stores and online.

Substitutions and Omissions

• In place of jaggery, you can add brown sugar as well. The halwa will still taste good:)
• Khoya and cardamom powder are not strictly essential. You can skip them, especially khoya. When I don't have it, I don't go out of my way to get it.
• Want to make besan halwa without ghee? Ghee can be substituted with butter although the taste will be different with butter. Ghee is the top choice for making any kind of halwa, but if you absolutely can't get your hands on it or don't like it, use unsalted butter.

How to make besan ka halwa

Preparation (5 minutes)

There is very little prep involved in this recipe. However, keep the ingredients ready - chop the nuts and break the jaggery and khoya (if using) into smaller pieces for convenience. Both jaggery and khoya dissolve very quickly in milk, so no worries there.

Cooking

Step 1 - Heat the ghee in a pan and add the chickpea flour. Roast on low heat, stirring all the time with a wooden spoon in a circular motion. As you roast it, it will give off a warm, nutty aroma. Keep at it until the mixture looks like liquid caramel. (12-15 minutes). 

Step 2 - Heat the milk in a saucepan and add the jaggery, milk solids (khoya), cardamom powder and nuts. Reserve a few nuts for garnishing later. Mix well and stir until the jaggery dissolves in the milk (5 minutes).

Step 3 - Add the milk mixture to the roasted flour. Stir in a circular motion on low heat until the halwa becomes thick. This happens very fast so don't stop stirring. In a couple of minutes, the liquid will evaporate and the halwa will be like a thick liquid.

You have two options here. If you want to stop now and have the halwa with a spoon, you can. The halwa is fully cooked. Take it out in a bowl and dig into it! (2nd picture).

If you want it firm and more like a besan barfi so that you can pick a piece and eat it with your hand, don't stop now. Keep stirring on low heat and the halwa will come together like a ball. Now is a good time to stop and remove the pan from the heat (3-5 minutes). 

Spread it out in a flat tray or platter and cut into the shape you like once it has cooled down a bit. Top with nuts.

Top tips

1. Keep the heat LOW at all stages of cooking this halwa - If you increase the heat to cook it faster, it will burn.
2. Stir the halwa continuously in a circular motion using a wooden spoon both when roasting the flour in ghee and after adding the milk mixture. The halwa will brown evenly if you do this.
3. Roast the chickpea flour in ghee very well. The mixture will change texture and color as you do this. Stop when you get a caramel-like thick paste.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

1. How long does besan ka halwa last?

Upto a week in cool temps and a month in the refrigerator. All that roasting and sugar preserves it very well.

2. Is besan ka halwa good for cough and cold?

If you make it like a drink called besan ka sheera. This is used as a traditional remedy for colds and coughs in Indian homes. The proportions are slightly different though and you add a few more spices. This is how you make it -

• Roast 2 tablespoons of besan in 1 tablespoon of ghee on low heat until it changes color and becomes brown.
• Add ¼ teaspoon each cardamom powder, black pepper powder and turmeric.
• Add 1 cup milk and 2 tablespoons grated jaggery and mix well on low heat.
• Pour it into a cup and drink it up warm, preferably at bedtime.

It may or may not work for you, but it is a delicious drink in any case! And it has natural, anti-inflammatory ingredients like turmeric and black pepper that can only do you good.

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