Recipe of moong dal barfi: an easy method

I have always been fond of moong dal (green lentil) halwa made by my mother. She is a cook par excellence, and meticulously makes halwa, cooking it on low flame for about an hour. It requires continuous stirring and scraping as dal paste has a tendency to stick to the surface of the pan while cooking. The end result is worth all the effort required. This Diwali I thought of making something similar in taste, that can be made with less effort. I decided to make moong dal barfi.

Home-made moong dal barfi

The challenge was to make it in such a way that it does not require such long duration of cooking and stirring. Traditionally halwa is made by soaking dal, grinding it, and then sauteeing it on low heat. One of my friends told me that she makes halwa by roasting dry dal and then grinding it into powder. Then make halwa using this powder. I tried this method at home, but was partially successful, as moong lentil did not cook properly, and the grains remained hard. When I decided to make moong dal barfi for Diwali, I thought of trying this method with some modifications.

I washed dal, dried it by soaking water in kitchen towel. If dal does not dry completely it does not matter, as it will dry up when we roast it. I roasted it in a heavy bottomed pan on low heat, till I got the aroma of roasted dal. By this time dal had turned light brown in color. I grind dal to yield coarse powder, and not fine powder. Barfi tastes better, when there are small grains in it. I then roasted the powder in ghee for few minutes, added water, and cooked on low flame. In my earlier attempt I had cooked on medium and high heat. The result was uncooked dal grains in halwa. When dal grains became soft, I added condensed milk in it. Traditionally khoya/mawa (thickened milk) is used to make halwa. Nowadays it has become difficult to get good khoya in the market easily. So I decided to try condensed milk in this recipe. The barfi that we get in market is yellow in color. I did not want to add any artificial color to my dish. So I decided to add saffron, that gave nice flavor, as well as color to my barfi. I also added cardamom powder to the mixture and set it in a container. After couple of hours I could cut pieces of barfi, and its taste was perfect. Since I used dry dal instead of soaked dal, I could reduce time and effort required in cooking dal by almost half.

Moong dal barfi is perfect for festivals and celebrations

I make kalakand in similar fashion using paneer and condensed milk. Bhapa doi is another dessert recipe that can never go wrong, and is made using yogurt and condensed milk.

Since moong lentil is gluten-free, so this dish can be consumed by those who are allergic to gluten. I have also reduced the amount of ghee in my recipe, to reduce the calories a little bit. Still, desserts are rich in calories, and the same is the case here. I believe we can indulge ourselves occasionally, and later exercise to offset the calorie gain. I have had loads of sweets and other stuff during this festival season, and now intend to become regular with my walks and yoga. Also, now there will be some oil free and healthy cooking in my kitchen. I am keeping my fingers crossed 😉

I made a video while making moong dal barfi. Click on the link below to watch the video.

Recipe of Moong Dal Barfi

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Recipe of moong dal barfi: an easy method

Print Recipe

This is an easy method to make moong dal ki barfi. It involves dry roasting and dry grinding moong dal After that the moong powder is cooked in water and condensed milk.

• Coursedessert
• CuisineIndian

Servings	Prep Time
32 pieces	5 minutes

Cook Time	Passive Time
30 minutes	2 hours

Servings Prep Time 32 pieces 5 minutes

Cook Time Passive Time 30 minutes 2 hours

Recipe of moong dal barfi: an easy method Print Recipe This is an easy method to make moong dal ki barfi. It involves dry roasting and dry grinding moong dal After that the moong powder is cooked in water and condensed milk. Coursedessert CuisineIndian Servings Prep Time 32 pieces 5 minutes Cook Time Passive Time 30 minutes 2 hours Servings Prep Time 32 pieces 5 minutes Cook Time Passive Time 30 minutes 2 hours

Ingredients

• 1 cup dhuli moong dal (split and skinned moong lentil) washed and pat dried with kitchen towel
• 2 cups water
• 1 pinch saffron starnds soaked in 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 can (400ml) sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder
• 3/4 cup ghee (rarefied butter) melted
• 1 tablespoon pistachios and almonds slivered

Servings: pieces

Instructions

1. Dry roast dal on low heat in a heavy bottomed pan. Keep stirring so that dal is roasted equally from all sides.
2. When aroma of roasted dal can be smelled, stop roasting. Ayt this time dal will have light brown color. When dal slightly cools down, dry grind it in a grinder. Grind it to get grainy powder and not very fine powder.
3. Heat the heavy bottomed pan, and add ghee to it. Then add dal powder. saute it on low heat for 2-3 minutes. Stir continuously.
4. Add water gradually to the pan. Keep stirring and take care that no lumps are formed. break lumps if any with stirrer. Cook this mixture in low flame for few minutes. dal will absorb water and mixture will thicken. Add condensed milk and mix properly. cook for about 10 minutes, stirring continuously.
5. Add saffron that was soaked in milk and continue cooking the mixture. The mixture will gradually thicken. Keep stirring and scraping it else it will stick to the bottom of the pan and get burnt.
6. When the mixture has thickened, and starts leaving the sides of the pan, stop cooking. Add cardamom powder and mix well.
7. Take a greased container, and transfer dal mixture in it. With the help of spatule spread dal evenly in the container. Sprinkle nut slivers, and pat them gently with spatula.
8. Allow the mixture to rest for 2 hours. The mixture will dry further, and will be properly set in the container. Cut square pieces with a knife and serve. Barfi can be stored in refrigerator in an airtight container. it will last for 4-5 days or maybe a little more in refrigerator.

Recipe Notes

Tips:

• All the cooking should be done on low heat. If cooked fast, dal will remain hard and uncooked.
• Continuous stirring and scraping is required. The mixture has a tendency to stick to the pan. Preferably use heavy bottomed non-stick pan or kadhai.
• Store barfi in airtight container, else it will be dried.

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