Besan Halwa is a fudgy Indian dessert made with chickpea flour or besan. Chickpea flour Spoon fudge with cardamom and nuts. How to make Besan Ka Halwa Recipe. Use other grain or bean or lentil flours for variation. Vegan Gluten-free Grain-free Dessert Recipe. 6 Ingredients, 15 minutes! Jump to Recipe
Festive season began this weekend with Navratri celebrations, prep for Dussehra, KarwaChauth and then will be rounded up end of this month with Diwali. In India, this month would be more like December in the US, where everyone is generally in a festive spirit. People visit each other, there are potlucks and dinners. Lots of cooking and sweets, Dressing up and shopping. In the US, the spirit of these festivals is mellow. With each year, it is an extra effort to plan and celebrate some of the events. Probably because there is some competition with the October holidays and pumpkin :). But we always make some festival sweets and snacks for this festive Indian season, however busy the month.
Today’s amazing dessert is brought to you by chickpea flour. Chickpea flour is used in various ways in Indian cuisine. Be it a snack cornbread like cake, or savory pancake , or a sweet ladoo ball, a Burfi fudge, or to make a veggie soup, or many other ways. This dessert uses chickpea flour to make a thick custard, that cools to a halwa state. The whole cardamom seeds in the halwa make this one delectable spoon fudge. Make this with wheat, millet or amaranth, lentil flours for variation.
You can use other flours to make this dessert as well. The consistency of the final halwa can be anywhere from a thin custard to thicker set halwa, depending on the flour. Happy Navratri to everyone who is celebrating! More Dairy-free Indian desserts on the blog here. If you make this dessert, do tag me on Instagram or leave a comment here!
Video:
Besan Halwa - Chickpea flour fudge
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons of oil organic safflower or canola or coconut
- 3/4 cup (90 g) chickpea flour or besan
- seeds of 1 green cardamom pod , whole seeds or crushed to a coarse meal, or use 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
- 1/3 cup (53.33 g) or more raw sugar or coconut sugar or a mix of sugar and powdered jaggery
- 3/4 cup (187.5 ml) hot water
- 2 tablespoons chopped nuts
- 2 tablespoons currants
- a pinch of salt
Instructions
- Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add chickpea flour to the oil. Mix and roast for about 10 minutes. Stir occasionally. The flour will be dry, then become like fat breadcrumbs and eventually change color slightly and start to stick to make larger lumps.
- Meanwhile bring 1 cup of water to a boil.
- Add the nuts, currants and salt to the chickpea flour and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the sugar and cardamom seeds and mix in.
- Add 1/2 cup hot boiling water to the skillet and mix in. Add the rest 1/4 cup of the water and continue to mix vigorously. The chickpea flour mixture will become lumpy and eventually become smooth and custard like. Continue to mix to break the lumps. (use a whisk if the lumps do not break within the first 1-2 mins). Cook for about 3 minutes, then take off heat. Garnish with sliced nuts. Serve warn or cold. Store in a closed container for a few hours on the counter. Refrigerate for upto 5 days.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Sharmain
Made as listed except used ghee, raisins and added a bit more water as cooking in Denver CO and always seem to need a bit more liquid. Brought back memories of a sweet we used to get at Diwali when living in the West Indies and occasionally in Canada where I grew up. A lovely trip down culinary memory lane! And GF which is great as have made versions before with wheat flour or milk powder or cream of wheat. Thanks so much.
Vegan Richa Support
Wow – international cookinng!
Sushma
I just made this and loved it! I sprayed some oil on a non stick instead of using 3 tblsp. And I also reduced sugar to 40g which turned out to be still too sweet for me. Will reduce to 30g next time I think. Also added a few strands of Saffron to the boiling water.
It was delicious!
Vegan Richa Support
good to know! thank you
Sushma
Would applesauce work here in place of oil?
Richa
Nope. Just omit the oil. Dry roast the besan and then add the water/sugar
Sjbull
Wow, so tasty. I almost ate the whole thing! The flour didn’t dramatically change colour and was a little lumpy (will whisk more next time) but so tasty! Love your recipes!
Jay
Sorry if this is a dumb question, but is this black or green cardamom? Thanks for posting – I love all the recipes of yours I have tried.
Richa
i should add that. its green cardamom. If nothing is mentioned, then its usually green as that is more available and more frequently used.
Tacara
This looks amazing. I have besan and will totally try this!
sheri
has anyone ever made something similar to this with peanut butter added in? I was curious since the texture might lend to it. I have been trying to find a way to make a “healthy” peanut butter fudge….
Richa
i think blending in some cooked chickpeas with the peanut butter and some sweetener would make a better fudge. The texture of halwa is a bit different, its a cross between jello and fudge. Its a ommon texture in many halwas and some other indian dessert, so it isnt a new thing for me, but can be new to you. You can mix in the peanut butter in the cooked halwa while it is still warm and them let it cool to set. Make a small portion to see how you find the overall texture and flavor profile.
sheri
thank you! I have had some halwas before, but they weren’t the texture as seen in the video.
Richa
yes the texture varies depending on the amount of liquid. softer and wetter with more and more set with less liquid. Let me know if you make the pb halwa fudge version and how it turns out
munchmunch
Thank you so much for sharing the recipe! The halwa was quick and easy to make and it tasted so yummy!!
April
I made this and was pleased with the results. I used chopped walnuts, because that’s what I had. But, it was hard to distinguish between the chopped nuts and lumps of chickpea flour. I pressed the cooked mixture into an oiled pan, let cool, then cut into squares. Yum!
Daal Plus Chawal
Have not eaten this for may be 25 or 30 years. Heck, have not thought about this dish for 25 or 30 years. Made it and it tasted exactly like I remembered. Funny thing: the color of the besan changed not into the golden brown (as in pics / video) but to dark red color as soon I added water. So my (USA born and raised, non-Asian mom) kids freaked out about the color and refused to try it. Not that I am complaining about that. More for me to eat which I have been doing since last night. Thanks for the recipe. Bought back some really old and grand memories of grandparents home in Karachi.
Richa
the besan might have burnt a bit. Some of it can stick to the pan and burn. Use a heavy bottom skillet and cook lower heat to maintain the color.
RPai
i just made this – it tastes good, but it’s lumpy (still has small bits of flour). Is there anything I can do to fix it? Thanks!
Richa
probably not now. While mixing, the lumps dont seem to break, use a whisk instead of a spatula to continue mixing. As the mixture heat up, the heat and mixing should break the lumps down. Sometimes besan gets more lump (compared to chickpea flour), so you want to briskly whisk the mixture using a whisk.
Lauren Duquette
This was easy to make and is so creamy and smooth! The flavor is warm and perfect for Fall! I used a garbanzo / fava bean flour and substituted chopped dates for the currants. It’s lovely! Thank you, Richa!
Sadie
Delicious! I followed Richa’s advice on making this oil-free and it was perfectly soft and fudgey. A new favorite for us.
JN
I made this last night and had very little of besan, so I did half besan = half millet flour. Thanks to your video (makes it so easy for me) I made it, viola, it was delicious!!!!!!!!!!
Cat
I made this last night, it was really good, I will be making it again! Thank you for the recipe.
Richa
Awesome! thanks.
Virginia
Hi Richa,
You suggest that one use other grain or bean or lentil flours for variation. Based on your experiences, which flours would you use instead of besan — in case one does not have any in hand? For instance, could one use millet flour? Would one need to add more sweetener with other flours? Thank you.
Richa
Yes, millet, wheat, amaranth, or oat + one of these work well. chickpea flour generally needs the most amount of sweetener, so you are good with other flours.
newborn Photoshoot
I like besan halwa very much and nice photoshoot of this ..Thanks
Nancy
Does this need to be refrigerated?
Richa
Not for the day. Store on the counter in a container with a lid. Refrigerate for 4 to 5 days.
Nancy
What oil do you prefer for this recipe?
Richa
organic safflower
L
Is it at all possible to make this oil-free? Thanks!
Richa
You can dry roast the chickpea flour until it changes color slightly. it will take about the same time. 10 mins. Stir occasionally to avoid burning. Add toasted nuts, currents and cardamom. Add the water and mix until custard like. The texture will be more jelly like without the oil.
L
Awesome, thank you!!
masala girl
i really need to make homemade sweets for festive season this year. this one will be new to me if i try it 🙂 i know i’d love it, but i sooo want to make burfi! 🙂
Richa
You can put this mixture quickly into a greased pan. Cool, slice and there will be Burfi 🙂