Besan Burfi/Fudge/Mohan Thal

Hello Friends,

This is a very famous Gujarati sweet called Mohan thal prepared mostly during festival time. It is an Indian Fudge made with gram flour (besan). Diwali is around the corner so started my preparation early. Back home, many friends and family visits our house during Diwali so we prepare few specials ahead to serve during the celebration.

There are a lot of memories attached to this burfi. My mom makes really good burfi and I grew up watching her prepare this sweet during Diwali. Love you mom ❤ . I remember one incident clearly. I must be around 11-12 years old and I was visiting my aunt’s house. The day I was there, my aunt asked one of her friend to come and help her to make burfi. Her friend didn’t show up and my aunt got stressed out because she was not confident that she can make it by herself. I told my aunt that I know how to make it and let’s do it. I helped her to make sugar syrup which is the most important step in making this burfi. Burfi came out perfect. I think I had this talent then 😉😉

I recently made this using jaggery instead of sugar, the process can not get easier than this.

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
3 cups besan or gram flour
1/4 cup milk
1 tbsp ghee or clarified butter
2 cup additional ghee/clarified butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
1/4 tsp cardamom powder
10-15 almond and pistachio each for garnishing

Procedure

1. Soak almond and pistachio 3-4 hours. When ready, removed the skin and slice thinly.  Tip: To slice almond and pistachio thinly, remove 3-4 pieces at a time from water, remove the skin and slice immediately with sharp knife. You will be able to make very thin slices.

2. In a small bowl, microwave or heat 1/4 cup milk and 1 tbsp ghee for 45 seconds to 1 minute. Ghee should melt in milk.

3. In a large mixing bowl, sieve besan or gram flour. Add warm milk ghee mixture and mix it with hand in circular motion. You will be able to see small balls forming. Keep on side for 5-10 minutes. After 5-10 minutes, lightly rub flour between your palm so big balls break and there will be only smalls balls. At the end press the flour mixture, cover the bowl and leave it on side for about 1-1 1/2 hour. This process is called Dhabo (pretty funny word huh? 😉 )

4. After an hour, on one burner start making sugar syrup. This is the most important process. In a pot, mix 1 1/2 cup sugar with 3/4 cup water and heat on low to medium stirring occasionally.

5. On another burner, heat a wide bottom pan. Add  2 cups of ghee and flour mixture which was prepared an hour before. Breaks lumps with hand while adding to the pan. Cook on low to medium stirring continuous. Let it cook until mixture turns golden brown and house is filled with fragrance.

6. During this time, sugar syrup should be almost ready. How do you know it is ready? By checking syrup with your thumb and index finger. If you see long strand occurring then syrup is ready and move the pot away from burner. Yup, that’s my son’s car 😉 .

7. Immediately add sugar syrup to flour mixture which is cooking in another pan. Stir continuous on low to medium till it starts thickening. It will take around 3-6 mins. Also add cardamom powder during this process.

8. If you want to use jaggery (gud) then skip step 4 and 6. Once besan mixture turns golden brown and aromatic, add 1/4 cup milk and stir. It will absorb the water, then lower the heat completely and add finely broker jaggery as per the sweetness you like. Also add cardamom powder. Turn off the heat right away and mix well until no more jaggery lumps in the mixture.

9. Spread it on greased (with ghee) pan. Garnish with thinly slices almond and pistachio.

10. If mixture doesn’t harden after spreading on the pan, put in fridge for few minutes. After few minutes make square pieces. Let it cool down and store in airtight container. It stays good outside of fridge for few days. I can guarantee it won’t last longer than that 😀 .

It is a very rich sweet. Using jaggery instead of sugar made the process so much easier, that new cook can also try it.. Enjoy this festive sweet with your family and friends.

Please do leave a comment or let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you for visiting my blog. Until next time!

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