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