Recipe: Besan Barfee

Title: BESAN BARFEE
Categories: Indian, Oriental, Candies, Ethnic
Yield: 144 servings

6 oz Chick pea flour; 1 1/4 c
-180 g. also called besan
-or Gram flour
1 c Vegetable oil; 8 fl oz.
14 oz Sugar; 1 1/2 c or 395 g
1/2 ts Cardamom seeds; ground
2 tb Pistachios; unsalted
-up to 3 tbsp
-lightly crushed
1 tb Almonds, blanched;coarsely
-chopped
- up to 2 tbsp

Anne's note: The original recipe measures the dry
ingredients by weight; these are the most accurate
measures (I converted it to volume measures).

Sift the chick pea flour. Heat oil in a heavy, 10-12"
frying pan, wok or saute pan over a medium flame. Put
in the sifted chick pea flour. Stir and fry 2 to 3
minutes until the flour turns a shade darker and is
cooked (it should taste fried, not raw). Put the flour
into a large bowl, stir at once and allow to cool.

Make a syrup with 1 cup/8 fl oz/1/4 litre water and
the 14 oz/1 1/3 c/395 g. sugar by bringing the
water-sugar combination to a boil and then simmering
very gently for about 20 minutes or until the syrup
reaches a one thread consistency. (To test this, dip
in a wooden spoon and let coat slightly. Pinch some
syrup off the back of the spoon with two fingers and
then try separating the fingers. One sticky thread
should form. This is the Indian method. If you have a
better one, use it.)

Pour the hot syrup in the cooled chick pea flour/gram
flour mixture. add the ground cardamom seeds and the
nuts and mix well. keep stirring until mixture begins
to harden slightly. (It should still be pourable.)
Pour into a 9 inch square cake tin, tilt tin so barfee
mixture flows to the edges and allow to cool. Cut into
3/4 inch cubes. besan barfee if tightly wrapped in
aluminium foil and then placed in a plastic container,
freezes very well.

MAKES: 144 little cubes SOURCE: _Eastern Vegetarian
Cooking_ by Madhur Jaffrey posted by Anne MacLellan