Sweet, inviting, and made for sharing, Besan Halwa - Chickpea flour fudge is a vegan, vegetarian Indian dessert made with of oil, chickpea flour or besan, and seeds of 1 green cardamom pod in about 20 minutes. The recipe lays out the ingredients and each cooking step clearly, so you can adjust seasoning, texture, and serving size for your own kitchen.
Recipe Snapshot
- Prep time: 5 minutes
- Cook time: 15 minutes
- Total time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons of oil (organic safflower or canola or coconut)
- 3/4 cup 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 or more raw sugar or coconut sugar (or a mix of sugar and powdered jaggery)
- 3/4 cup hot water
- 2 tablespoons chopped nuts
- 2 tablespoons currants
- a pinch of salt
Method
- 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.
Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note
Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.
