Mohanthal, a traditional Gujarathi sweet made from the besan / chickpeas flour. It's one of my favorite sweets made with besan. The flavor and the taste of Mohanthal is simply amazing. Trust me, it's so addictive and you can't stop it with just one piece of  Mohanthal. 

As a South Indian, i was never aware of this for a very long time, a couple of years ago only i came to know about this sweet. By looking at the ingredients and the process of making this sweet itself, i knew that would be delicious. 

As of now, i have made this sweet a lot of times on various occasions and it's always a big hit.  Since this was a new sweet to me initially, i have browsed through a lot of recipes and tried different ratios of ingredients every time when i make and eventually found the recipe that i like the most.

As of now, i have made this sweet a lot of times on various occasions and it's always a big hit.  Since this was a new sweet to me initially, i have browsed through a lot of recipes and tried different ratios of ingredients every time when i make and eventually found the recipe that i like the most.

Many recipes call for khoya/mawa for making mohanthal but in today's recipe that i'm sharing, i haven't used khoya but still the mohanthal has melt in your mouth texture. 

Roasting the besan/kadalai maavu

Roasting the besan properly is the key to make delicious mohanthal. Since my kitchen has yellow light, i have taken the picture of the besan in daylight for three main stages that you can see  in the pic below.

Make sure to keep the flame in low-medium and roast the besan well. It shouldn't be burned at any stage and at the same time it should be dark brown after roasting in the ghee. Then once you add the milk to the besan-ghee mixture, it instantly turns reddish brown in color (last pic in the collage below) and that's the time to remove from the heat. 

Sugar Syrup Consistency 

Once the besan is roasted well, half the work is already done. Next is the sugar syrup. Make sure to boil the sugar syrup till it reaches one string consistency. That's the key to setting the mohanthal. 

If the sugar syrup passes the one string consistency, then the mohanthal would be hard. Or if the sugar syrup doesn't reach the one string consistency, then the mohanthal wouldn't set and be like halwa. 

Take the sugar syrup with the spoon and add a few drops in a small bowl. After a few secs, it should be bearable hot, at that time, take the sugar syrup between your thumb and index finger, pull the fingers gently, a single thread should form. That's the correct stage for sugar syrup.

Beginners Tips 

• Don't leave the besan unattended while roasting. It easily gets burned at the bottom.
• If it's not set after a few hours, then place it on the refrigerator and it will set immediately.

Happy Deepavali to all ! Have a fun-filled day with your loved ones. Will see you all again in another post soon. 

Mohanthal | Gujarathi Mohanthal Recipe

Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : 30 mins | Serves : 6 
Recipe Category: Sweet | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Mohanthal, Mohanthal without Khoya , Mohanthal without mawa , Mohanthal sweet,Gujarathi Mohanthal Mohanthal, a traditional Gujarathi sweet made from the besan / chickpeas flour. It's one of my favorite sweets made with besan.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients

Kadalai Maavu / Besan - 1 cup

Sugar - 1/2 cup

Ghee - 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp

Milk - 1/4 cup + 1.5 tbsp

Water - 1/4 cup

Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp

Almonds(silvered) - a few (optional)

Procedure

First take the besan in a bowl, add 1 tbsp of ghee and 1.5 tbsp of milk into it. 

Mix it well with your hands and then sieve the mixture through the siever.

The besan looks like a fine beach sand, that's the perfect texture for mohanthal. Next heat a thick bottomed kadai, add the remaining 1/2 cup ghee.

When the ghee starts to warm up, add the besan mixture and mix it well. 

Roast the besan in the ghee till it turns into dark brown.It takes around 15-18 mins in the low medium flame. Stir the mixture continuously to avoid burning at the bottom. Initially the mixture would be thick, roasting continuously would make the mixture lighter and a little bit thinner.

Once the mixture is dark brown, add the remaining 1/4 cup of cup and mix it well. The mixture instantly turns into reddish brown. 

Colors of besan at each stages. Since my kitchen has yellow light, I have captured the  three stages of besan color alone in day light for easy understanding 

Once the mixture turns reddish brown, remove the besan mixture from the heat and keep it aside. Next let's make sugar syrup, add the sugar and water in a sauce pan and bring into boil.

 Keep the flame in medium and boil the syrup till it reaches one string consistency. Next add the sugar syrup and cardamom powder into the besan mixture and mix it well.

 Once it all comes together as a homogenous mixture. Put it in the flame and cook it for around 3-4 mins or until it leaves the sides of the pan.

Then transfer the mixture into the ghee applied pan(i used parchment paper also for safety) . Garnish the top with the almonds and let it cool completely. Once it completely cools down, cut into desired shape.

Delicious Mohanthal is ready to serve.

Related:How to make Milk Cake 

Notes

• You can garnish with any types of nuts or edible silver paper or leave it as it is also.
• I have used full fat milk and highly recommend to use that for rich taste.