7 Cup Burfi is rich and aromatic, quick and easy-to-make, melt-in-mouth Indian sweet or fudge prepared using five basic ingredients.
About the Recipe
Seven-cups barfi is a traditional south Indian sweet prepared specially during Diwali (Deepawali) where 7 cups of ingredients are used to prepare this fudge. 7 cup barfi is very similar to Mysore Pak but easier; it also tastes nuttier due to the addition of coconut.
7 cup burfi sweet is prepared only during special occasions and Indian festivals, not on daily basis, due to the high amount of sugar.
How do you make 7 cups sweet?
The traditional recipe to make 7 cups uses a 1:1:1:1:3 ratio of besan (chickpea flour ) : ghee : milk : coconut : sugar.
A simple rule to make Seven Cup Burfi Cake (Secret Tip)
Say you are using one bowl or 1 cup, or 1 part of besan, then follow the same amount or units of measurement for ghee, milk, and coconut. Sugar will be three times - that is, three bowls or 3 cups or three parts. This is the most traditional way.
I personally feel 3 cups of sugar is too much. It's overly sweet, so I have reduced it to 1 cup and an extra 2 tbsp. You can even skip the additional 2 tbsp.
You don't need any standard cup size. A small bowl or cup measurement of your choice can be used. If you are a beginner to trying sweets or burfi, then you can try this as you do not have to worry about sugar syrup reaching string consistency, etc. Add all ingredients one after the other and stir. Lot of arm work - continuous stirring is needed, so this is not for a lazy person 🙂
Because it has besan, coconut, milk, in equal proportions, you can even call this besan burfi, coconut burfi, or milk burfi 🙂
While you are here, don't forget to check out my popular Milk Barfi and Kaju Katli recipes.
Ingredients
½ cup Besan or Chickpea flour or Gram flour
½ cup grated Coconut (check tips for substitute)
½ cup Milk
½ cup Ghee or brown butter
1 cup + 2 tablespoon Sugar
¼ teaspoon Cardamom powder or Elaichi
1 tablespoon Almonds or Badam, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon Pistachios, roughly chopped
How to make 7 cup Burfi or Barfi cake - Quick & Easy Diwali Sweet?
Step 1
- Grease a tray or plate with ghee or line with parchment or butter paper and keep it ready.
- Roast almonds and pistachios on low flame until light in color and keep them aside. I love the crunchiness that nuts give to sweets and it looks more festive and pretty. So I generally add it to my recipes. You can even skip it.
- In the same pan, add chickpea flour and dry roast on medium-low flame till it gives a nutty aroma. Keep sautéing it and make sure not to burn or brown from the bottom.
Step II
- To this add coconut, milk, ghee and mix very well so that there are no lumps.
- Add sugar, cardamom powder, and keep stirring the mixture on medium to medium-low flame. The mixture may become liquid-like in texture at this point.
- Keep stirring and also don't forget to scrape the sides and bottom else the mixture may start turning brown and burn. Nonstop stirring and scraping is a must to make this burfi. The mixture will thicken and start to reduce.
- When the mixture starts leaving the sides of the pan, be more attentive as you are close to the final stage. Continue to cook till ghee starts releasing from the sides. When the mixture becomes like a mass with porous texture (bubbles) and ghee starts leaving the sides of the pan, turn off the flame. If you cook more than this burfi will become brittle and break or turn into powder. Basically, keep stirring the mixture till you cannot stir it anymore 🙂
- Immediately pour this mixture onto the prepared plate or tray and spread using a spatula.
- Sprinkle the roasted almonds and pistachios and press gently.
- Using a greased knife, draw lines on burfi when it is still hot.
- When it is still warm, cut it into pieces.
- Let it cool down completely. Store in air tight container.
Pro Tips
- If coconut is unavailable, you can use cashew powder or almond powder.
- You should stir and scrape throughout the process for the best results. If you are not a person who likes to do sweets with a lot of arm work, I would just say don't try it as you will not be happy with the result.
- I used freshly grated coconut to make this sweet. You can also use frozen, dry or desiccated coconut. The texture and cooking time will vary accordingly.
- Adding nuts is totally optional.
- Cooking burfi is an art. Cooking for a longer time than needed will make it hard, and shorter time will make your barfi soft. Both are not bad to taste, but the texture may not be what you are looking for.
- The color of the barfi will slightly vary depending on the amount of sugar you add, the quality of besan, and till what stage you roast besan/chickpea flour.
- If you are looking for finer burfi, you can even pulse the grated coconut to form a fine powder.
Storage
Burfi can be store in an air-tight container at room temperature for 8 to 10 days.
FAQs
Simply substitute sugar with jaggery powder and follow the same steps. You may see that the color will change because of jaggery and texture will be on the softer side.
To make vegan 7 cup burfi for Diwali or special occasion, simply substitute milk with almond milk or cashew milk and ghee with ¼ cup of vegan butter or ghee.
Read the post here - Milk Burfi I have explained what to do in all these cases.
Follow the same recipe and substitute chickpea flour with almond flour. The color, taste and texture will vary accordingly.
Some popular Barfi or Burfi Indian Sweet recipes
Try out some more recipes this festival season.
- Milk Barfi or Milk Powder Burfi - most popular recipe on my blog.
- Kaju Burfi or Kaju Katli
- Rose Barfi
- Quick and easy Burfi Recipes
- Besan Milk Burfi
- Coconut Burfi with Jaggery
- Coconut Barfi with sugar
- Peanut Butter Fudge
While you are here, feel free to check out the interesting collection of Indian recipes
Recipe card
7 Cup Burfi | 7 Cup Barfi Cake | Quick and Easy Indian sweet for Diwali
Equipment
- 1 Pan
- 1 Bowl
Ingredients
- ½ cup Besan or Chickpea flour or Gram flour
- ½ cup Grated coconut or Nariyal (check tip for substitute)
- ½ cup Milk
- ½ cup Ghee or brown butter
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoon Sugar
- ¼ teaspoon Cardamom powder or Elaichi
- 1 tablespoon Almonds or badam, roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon Pistachios, roughly chopped
Instructions
Step I
- Grease a tray or plate with ghee or line with parchment or butter paper and keep it ready.
- Roast almonds and pistachios on low flame until light in color and keep them aside. I love the crunchiness that nuts give to sweets and it looks more festive and pretty. So I generally add it to my recipes. You can even skip it.1 tablespoon Almonds or badam, roughly chopped, 1 tablespoon Pistachios, roughly chopped
Step II
- In the same pan, add chickpea flour and dry roast on medium-low flame till it gives a nutty aroma. Keep sautéing it and make sure not to burn or brown from the bottom.½ cup Besan or Chickpea flour or Gram flour
- To this add coconut, milk, ghee and mix very well so that there are no lumps.½ cup Grated coconut or Nariyal, ½ cup Milk, ½ cup Ghee or brown butter
- Add sugar, cardamom powder, and keep stirring the mixture on medium to medium-low flame. The mixture may become liquid-like in texture at this point.1 cup + 2 tablespoon Sugar, ¼ teaspoon Cardamom powder or Elaichi
- Keep stirring and also don’t forget to scrape the sides and bottom else the mixture may start turning brown and burn. Nonstop stirring and scraping is a must to make this burfi. The mixture will thicken and start to reduce.
- When the mixture starts leaving the sides of the pan, be more attentive as you are close to the final stage. Continue to cook till ghee starts releasing from the sides. When the mixture becomes like a mass with porous texture (bubbles) and ghee starts leaving the sides of the pan, turn off the flame. If you cook more than this burfi will become brittle and break or turn into powder.
- Immediately pour this mixture onto the prepared plate or tray and spread using a spatula.
- Sprinkle the roasted almonds and pistachios and press gently.
- Using a greased knife, draw lines on burfi when it is still hot.
- When it is still warm, cut it into pieces. Let it cool down completely. Store in air tight container.
Notes
- If coconut is unavailable you can use cashew powder or almond powder.
- You should stir and scrape throughout the process for best results. If you are not a person who like to do sweets with a lot of arm work I would just say don’t try it as you will not be happy with the result.
- I used freshly grated coconut to make this sweet. You can also use frozen, dry or desiccated coconut. The texture and cooking time will vary accordingly.
- Adding nuts is totally optional.
- Cooking burfi is an art. Cooking for a longer time than needed will make it hard and a shorter time will make your barfi soft. Both are not bad to taste but the texture may not be what you are looking for.
- The color of the barfi will slightly vary depending on the amount of sugar you add, the quality of besan and till what stage you roast besan/chickpea flour.
- If you are looking for finer burfi you can even pulse the grated coconut to form a fine powder.
- You can use jaggery instead of sugar if needed. The taste, color, and texture will vary accordingly.
Nutrition
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Kim
I love that these are so easy to make. I think I'll skip the almonds and add walnuts to mine, though. I'm sure it will be equally delicious!
Jovita
This dessert looks very appetizing. Love nuts, very nice and tasty recipe 🙂