Get ready to amaze your family, friends, everyone you know (including yourself!) with some homemade besan burfi using this surprisingly simple recipe!
I am sharing the easiest and fastest way to make besan burfi! This chickpea fudge sets in minutes!
Besan burfi is a sweet and dense dessert made using besan, sugar, water, cardamom and ghee.
I think this might be the easiest dessert recipe on my blog? And that’s crazy because I’m sharing a burfi recipe. Burfi is something I used to dismiss as being too complicated to make myself. Much easier to ask a family member to make it for me (lol).
But having an instant pot makes making besan burfi so simple!
What is besan? What is besan burfi?
Besan, also known as gram flour or chickpea flour, is made from small brown chickpeas (not garbanzo beans). If you remove the brown skin from brown chickpeas, you’re left with yellow chana dal – grind that, and you’ve got besan. Thankfully it’s easy to find besan at your local Indian grocery store or online.
If you’ve never tried besan before, it has a pleasant, nutty, and somewhat earthy flavor. If you’ve never had besan burfi before, you should know that it’s dense, unlike kaju katli, which is more delicate.
Why use besan to make burfi? Because it’s delicious! Besan is an Indian pantry staple. It’s more economical than using nuts or nut flour, making besan burfi an inexpensive dessert.
How does the Instant Pot make this recipe easy?
This type of fudge is traditionally made on the stovetop by boiling sugar to the right temperature/consistency while simultaneously cooking besan in bubbling hot ghee. Once both are ready – you’re supposed to combine them into one pot. I find it difficult to use two stovetop burners at the same time without burning myself (#clumsy), so I’ve managed to come up with an easier and safer, and more reliable method. We’re going to make our sugar syrup (also known as chashni) in the instant pot and then mix in the rest of the ingredients.
This method is similar to my kaju/badam katli (cashew/almond fudge) recipe – only much easier because there’s no need to roll out any dough.
The first step: roast the besan.
Set the besan aside for now. It’s time to make sugar syrup!
Then we stir roasted besan, ghee, and cardamom together and pour it all into a glass dish.
Top with crushed nuts (if you want), then slice and serve. It sets within minutes! It really is as easy as it sounds.
Why roast the besan?
Why do we have to roast besan before making burfi? Because raw chana dal flour is bitter. Roasting besan gets rid of bitterness and is what gives the flour its nutty, toasty flavor.
Unfortunately, there’s no shortcut to roasting the flour. It takes 20 minutes of occasional stirring. I won’t lie, those 20 minutes can feel like an eternity… unless you’re listening to music! Play your favorite tunes, and after 5-6 songs, the besan will be ready 🙂
What do I do if I see the Burn sign?!
Ignore it. It’ll go away on its own after a few minutes. I’ve made sugar syrup in the instant pot many times, and every now and then, the IP will go rogue and give me a “burn” sign – it has always gone away on its own after several minutes – be patient.
Here’s what to expect if the burn sign comes up: after a few minutes, the burn sign will disappear, and the pressure cooker will continue to count down. As long as the valve is closed and the silicone ring is on properly, it’ll be fine. The sugar won’t burn. The temperature of the syrup will still be within the correct range to make this fudge.
Besan burfi lasts a while. You can store this burfi on the counter for a week, in the fridge for a couple of weeks, or in the freezer for months. Enjoy!
Instant Pot Besan Burfi (Chickpea Fudge)
Instant Pot Besan Burfi (Chickpea Fudge)
Ingredients
- 2 cups besan approx 230 – 245 grams
- 1 cup sugar approx 200 – 210 grams
- ⅓ cup water approx 2.55 – 2.75 ounces
- ¾ cup ghee approx. 5.5 – 6 ounces
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground cardamom*
- 2-3 tablespoons chopped nuts optional, to taste
Instructions
- Roast the Besan:Set a 6 quart Instant Pot to sauté (default medium setting) and allow the pot to heat up for a couple of minutes. Add the besan to the instant pot and dry roast the besan, stirring occasionally, for 20-25 minutes or until it smells toasty and the color slightly darkens by a shade or two. Remove the besan from the pot and set it aside for now (if you’re unsure whether it’s toasted properly, you can taste a pinch of it – if it’s bitter, that means it’s still raw).
- Wipe down the pot with a dry paper towel, then add sugar and water to the pot and mix well.
- Secure the lid and cook for 11 minutes at high pressure.
- Quick-release pressure.
- Add the roasted besan, ghee, cardamom, and quickly stir until well combined. You’ll need to be quick as this mixture thickens fast, making it tough to stir well.
- Spoon the mixture into a greased 8×8 or similar sized pan/dish and spread it out with a spatula. If using nuts, press them into the fudge while it’s still warm (you can use parchment paper to press them in). The fudge sets in minutes – make sure to slice it right away and then let it cool before removing the slices. If you wait too long to make the slices, it’ll crumble as you try to slice the hardened burfi.
Video
Notes
My two little “helpers” say hello 🙂 Hope you enjoy the burfi!
Hemang Desai says
Dont know what I did wrong. I sauteed (High setting) the Besan for 30 minutes because every time I tasted a pinch it seemed bitter. After 30 minutes I was scared to burn it so I removed it from the pot and did the sugar/water step. Turned out well but it does have a slight bitter aftertaste.
6 qt Instant pot and used the saute function on the high setting (not the normal setting or medium as you mentioned). In my Instantpot the default setting is High for the Saute function.
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Hi Hemang, I sauté on the normal setting – if you’ve switched it in the past then the default may have changed but you can always change it back to normal. I would think the high setting would be fine as long as you stir more often. 30 minutes seems like a long time though. If it’s bitter then my guess would typically be that it didn’t roast properly as raw chana dal flour is bitter, however, after that long on high, I’m wondering if it instead got burnt? I’m not sure what may have happened – you can try asking in my facebook group (Instant Pot for Indian Food) for some advice from our community if you’d like.
Flavia says
Turned out absolutely great. I have tried this recipe from various sites and hands down this was the simplest. Of course your arm gets a workout but the outcome!!!!! YUMMY! Thank you. This is one of my favorite Indian sweets and so glad I don’t have to buy it off the shelves anymore
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for letting me know how this turned out for you 🙂
Savia says
Hi Ashley, just made this and the mixture was so dry and crumbly within a few seconds. Wondering if should use melted ghee? The taste was delicious though 😁
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Hi Savia, it sounds like the sugar syrup was too hot – just to confirm, did you use a 6 quart to make this? Did you use enough ghee? Hopefully we can troubleshoot!
Savia says
I did use a 6 quart and ghee was exact amount but hardened and not soft or melted.
Hemang Desai says
I think you should try with melted ghee. I realize that the ghee would melt in the sugar syrup anyways but you dont want the syrup colling down to melt the ghee before it has had the time to bond with the besan.
Rinku Puri says
I liked the recipe it’s quick and easy. However in the last bit I had small clumps of besan is this normal??
My Heart Beets says
Hi Rinku! You can try sieving the besan next time to see if that helps but if the clumps weren’t noticeable/didn’t affect the texture then I wouldn’t bother. Let me know if you make it again 🙂
Meenu says
Should I reduce the sugar water cooking time if I’m making half the recipe or double the recipe?
My Heart Beets says
Hi Meenu, I haven’t tried halving or doubling the recipe but will say sugar syrup can be tricky and so I wouldn’t suggest altering the ratios in my recipe. If you experiment, please let us know how it goes!
Sarah says
Hey. Wondering if I can use something else like butter if I don’t have ghee for this recipe and the kalakand recipe.
My Heart Beets says
Hi Sarah, I’ve only tested it with ghee but I don’t see why butter wouldn’t work. I’m sure it’ll be just fine. Let me know what you think of this 🙂