Classic mithai · 30 minutes

Besan Burfi Recipe (Gram Flour Barfi)

Roast slowly. Nutty aroma. Set quickly.

Recipe by Farwa ZeeshanTested in the NineFoods home kitchen

Besan burfi is gram flour roasted in ghee and set with sugar. It tastes raw or turns hard when roasting is rushed or the syrup is too thick. The fix is roasting on low until golden and nutty, and using one-string syrup.

Prep5m

Cook30m

Servings8

kcal / serving190

LevelEasy

Jump to the method

The 3 laws of besan burfi

Why this recipe works

Low roast

High heat

Even golden colour.

Nutty aroma

Raw smell

Means it is ready.

One-string syrup

Thick syrup

Soft, not hard.

Shopping and prep list

Ingredients

Servings

Tap items as you gather them · 0 of 0 ready

The NineFoods besan gauge

Is the besan roasted?

Smell and look at the besan.

Tap a stage to see what to do.

Method · 3 stages

Step by step

Roast besan

Low · 20 min

Roast besan in ghee, stirring constantly.
Use the gauge above.

Look for: golden, fluid, nutty.

20:00

Syrup

Medium · 6 min

Boil sugar and water to one-string.

Look for: one-string syrup.

06:00

Set

Low · 3 min

Add syrup and cardamom to besan, stir until it thickens.
Pour into a greased tray, top with pistachios, cut when warm.

Look for: smooth burfi setting.

03:00

Chef's troubleshooter

What went wrong? Pick the symptom

Why

Under-roasted.

Fix next time

Roast until golden and nutty.

Why

Syrup too thick.

Fix next time

Stop at one-string syrup.

Why

Syrup too thin.

Fix next time

Cook the mixture 2 more minutes.

Why

Too much ghee.

Fix next time

Use 1/3 ghee to besan by volume.

Swap smart

Ingredient roles and substitutes

Ingredient	Job in the dish	Swap with
Besan	Base	Coarse besan gives texture
Ghee	Richness	Butter, clarified
Sugar syrup	Set	Powdered sugar added off heat
Cardamom	Aroma	Nutmeg

After the meal

Serve, store, reheat

Serve with

Tea, or as festive mithai.

Store

Airtight 2 weeks.

Reheat

Serve at room temperature.

How we tested this recipe

Tested in a home kitchen, not a studio

Recipe developed and tested by Farwa Zeeshan, who cooks and tests every NineFoods recipe on a regular home stove.

Cooked from start to finish with the exact quantities above for 8 servings, using both the metric and US cup measures.
Every one of the 3 stages was timed at the stove; heat levels and the 'look for' cues are what we saw in the pan.
The doneness check (is the besan roasted) and the troubleshooter come from batches that went wrong, and how we fixed them.
Reheating and storage advice was checked on leftovers, not guessed.

Read our full testing process

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