7 cup burfi recipe with step by step photos. It is an easy and delicious South Indian sweet that can be made for any festive or religious occasion.
7 cup burfi is also called as 7 cup cake. at home we call 7 cup barfi a close relative of mysore pak. It is easier to prepare as compared to mysore pak and tastes good too. For beginners, I would suggest to try 7 cup burfi first and then try the Mysore pak recipe.
As the name suggests, 7 cup burfi includes 7 cups or 7 measures of ingredients.
Ingredients used for making 7 cup burfi are
- 1 measure gram flour (besan)
- 1 measure of fresh coconut
- 1 measure of ghee
- 1 measure of milk and
- 3 measures of sugar
In this recipe I have not used 1 cup of each ingredient but 1 measure. So I have used:
- ½ cup of the main ingredients and
- 1.25 cups of sugar.
Even with 1.25 cups of sugar, i felt the burfi to be more on the sweeter side. So you can reduce the sugar to 1 cup. The recipe is very easy to prepare and can be made quickly for any festival or celebration. In fact you can even use the Indian steel bowls (vati) or a small glass for 1 measure. recipe can be doubled, but will involve more handwork.
In fact two of my readers durga aunty and shubha has shared 7 cup burfi recipe with me. So I made a couple of times and during Diwali also, but was not able to share the recipe then. Hence thought of sharing the barfi recipe just before republic day.
If preparing for the goddess or any deities, then you can add pinch of clove powder and a pinch of edible camphor. few more sweets which you can make with besan are:
Preparation to make 7 cup burfi
1. Take all the ingredients and keep them ready – ½ cup of besan, ½ cup grated coconut, ½ cup milk, ½ cup ghee and 1.25 cups sugar. You can also use 1 cup sugar. Do note that I have not filled the ghee till the top as I did not want it to spill out while taking pics.
2. Grease a tray or a pan with some ghee.
Roasting besan to make 7 cup burfi
3. Heat a heavy iron kadai or pan. Keep the flame to a low and add ½ cup besan or gram flour.
4. Stir often and roast the besan for 3 to 4 minutes or till you get a nice nutty aroma from it.
5. Do not brown the besan.
6. Stir continuously while roasting besan.
Making 7 cup burfi
7. Now add ½ cup fresh coconut, ½ cup ghee and ½ cup milk.
8. Mix very well. Don’t worry about the besan lumps.
9. Then add 1.25 cups sugar and ½ teaspoon cardamom powder.
10. Mix again very well and stir so that the sugar dissolves. The mixture will also become liquid like.
11. Keep on stirring and cooking on a low flame.
12. The mixture will begin to thicken and reduce.
13. Continue to cook and stir till the mixture leaves the sides of the pan. while stirring also scrape the bottom of the kadai and the sides. If you do not scrape, then the mixture starts sticking and gets browned or burnt. So You have to non stop stir and scrape. do use flat steel spatula (palta) as this helps in scraping the besan mixture.
14. Even after leaving the sides of the pan, Continue to cook till you see ghee releasing from the sides. When the barfi mixture looks like one molten mass with some bubbles and ghee releasing from the sides, then switch off the flame. if you cook too much, then the barfi will become hard and crumbly.
Setting the 7 cup burfi
15. Immediately pour the entire mixture in the greased tray or pan.
16. With a spatula or spoon, even and smoothen the top.
17. Let the burfi become warm or cool down at room temperature.
18. Below a pic of 7 cup burfi block after getting set.
19. Then cut with a sharp knife and Serve 7 cup burfi or store in an air-tight box. You can keep the barfi at room temperature in a cold season for a couple of days or refrigerate.
20. Offer the 7 cup burfi to the deities or serve as a sweet.
If you are looking for more burfi recipes then do check:
7 Cup Burfi
Ingredients
- ½ cup besan (gram flour) or 50 grams besan
- ½ cup fresh coconut or 35 grams fresh coconut
- ½ cup ghee or 100 to 110 grams ghee (clarified butter)
- ½ cup milk
- 1.25 cups sugar or 200 to 210 grams sugar
- ½ teaspoon cardamom powder
Instructions
preparation
- Take all the ingredients and keep them ready – ½ cup of besan, ½ cup grated coconut, ½ cup milk, ½ cup ghee and 1.25 cups sugar. You can also use 1 cup sugar.
- Grease a tray or a pan with some ghee.
roasting gram flour
- Heat a heavy iron kadai or pan. Keep the flame to a low and add ½ cup besan or gram flour.
- Stir often and roast the besan for 3 to 4 minutes or till you get a nice nutty aroma from it.
- Do not brown the besan. Also stir continuously while roasting besan.
making 7 cup burfi
- Once the besan becomes aromatic, then add ½ cup fresh coconut, ½ cup ghee and ½ cup milk.
- Mix very well.
- Then add 1.25 cups sugar and ½ teaspoon cardamom powder.
- Mix again very well and stir so that the sugar dissolves. The mixture will also become liquid like.
- Keep on stirring and cooking on a low flame.
- The mixture will begin to thicken and reduce.
- Continue to cook and stir till the mixture leaves the sides of the pan. While stirring also scrape the bottom of the kadai and the sides. If you do not scrape, then the mixture starts sticking and gets browned or burnt. So you have to non stop stir and scrape. do use flat steel spatula (palta) as this helps in scraping the besan mixture.
- Even after leaving the sides of the pan, Continue to cook till you see ghee releasing from the sides. When the burfi mixture looks like one molten mass with some bubbles and ghee releasing from the sides, then switch off the flame.
- If you cook too much, then the burfi will become hard and crumbly.
setting the 7 cup burfi
- Immediately pour the entire burfi mixture in the greased tray or pan.
- With a spatula or spoon, even and smoothen the top.
- Let the burfi become warm or cool down at room temperature.
- Then cut with a sharp knife and serve 7 cup burfi or store in an air-tight box. You can keep the barfi at room temperature in a cold season for a couple of days or refrigerate.
- Offer the 7 cup burfi to the deities or serve as a sweet.
Notes
- Recipe can be doubled, but will involve more handwork.
- You can use desiccated coconut instead of fresh coconut. With desiccated coconut, the cooking time will be less.Â
- You can also reduce the sugar to 1 cup.Â
Hi… Absolutely love your webpage…have some of your recipes and they have turned out to be simple delicious ones 🙂 thank you for this.
Tried the 7cup sweet. Can i use a glass bowl to cool the mix incase i do not have a metal tray?
Thanks Shubhra. I would suggest to use a steel or an aluminium bowl or a baking pan. As when you cut the set 7 cup burfi in slices, the knife will leaves scratches in the glass bowl.
Thank u for your previous reply.
Will get a tray if plan to make more sweets 🙂
Tasted well …but was wayyy off from the texture. Though by now it’s all made and half eaten off as well. Tasted really good. But it was Halwa like(i think someone else also had it of that consistency). Also felt ghee was a bit more…. Reading now that maybe i needed to cook it a bit more…. We froze it …after abt 3-4 hours of hoping it would cool down. And now scooping it off the plate. Thank you again
Welcome Shubra. It looks like more cooking was required as you mention the consistency was halwa like. Sweets like these have to be cooked perfectly so that they set on cooling. It takes some practice and skill. But once you get the knack it is very easy. Ghee is not more in this recipe. Moreover the ghee condenses after cooling and helps in thickening the burfi. I hope this helps and welcome.
Your recipes r super I tried mor than 15recipes of yours
thank you parvathi. glad to know that the recipes are turning out super.
Super
Can I use dry coconut insted fresh coconut
yes you can use dry coconut.
I tried this recipe, however the barfis have not come solid. They are sticky like halva. What’s the solution to that. What could be the possible reason for that
the burfi mixture needs to be cooked for some more minutes. thats why the stickiness. stickiness is from the sugar consistency in the 7 cup burfi mixture which has not formed 1 or 2 string consistencies. for burfi, usually a 1 or 2 string consistency is required. so the mixture has to be cooked more. since we are not making the sugar syrup separately here, we need to check the burfi mixture if its done or not. the method used is that ghee should release from the sides and the barfi mixture looks like one molten mass with some bubbles. you can keep the back the mixture on a pan and continue to cook for some more minutes. if the mixture looks dense or hard or dry, then sprinkle some water or milk. mix and continue to cook.
Dassana, thank you so much for your tips and troubleshooting. Next time I’ll cook it for longer and see how it goes. Good to know that the ghee on top is acceptable. Thank you so much!
welcome anjali. do share how does it turn for you the next time.
Hi Dassana! I love all your recipes and your entire blog. It’s my biggest cooking resource and has helped me impress my family on numerous occasions 🙂
I had trouble with getting this barfi to set. On the first try, the ghee collected on top and wouldn’t incorporate despite stirring for some time. The barfi was moist and somewhat liquidy. The second time, I halved the amount of ghee with similar results. Some people online suggested adding a small amount of water to thicken it, but this also didn’t work. Per my mom’s suggestion, I kept it in the oven at very low heat for a couple of hours, but it did not dry up much. Have you ever encountered this? Would you have any recommendations? I live in a hot & humid area. Thank you so much as always!
thanks a lot anjali. the ghee collecting on top is ghee releasing from the mixture. its fine. when the mixture is still slightly hot or warm, you can remove the excess ghee in another bowl. just like its done when preparing mysore pak. if a lot of ghee is used, then its is removed. depending on the quality and fluidity of ghee, this can happen. liquidy and moist is because the burfi mixture needs to cook more. so cook it for some more minutes.
here the sugar needs to cook to a soft ball consistency stage. this can’t be checked in this recipe. but when the burfi mixture looks like one mass and you see bubbles in it, thats the time to remove it from the pan. also i guess the oven method won’t work as at a low heat the sugar won’t come to this consistency. if ever this happens again, then again take the halwa mixture in a pan. you can add some water or milk it the mixture looks thick. then again cook it for some minutes till the mixture looks like one molten mass. then pour in a pan and let it set.
Hi dassana, Have prepared it last Sunday and it turned out very tasty.
Just curious to know, how long does it take to get set at room temperature?
We could only resist ourself for 15min and emptied the plate before it was even set 🙂
thanks mohana. it takes about 30 to 40 minutes. also depends on the temp conditions. in winter sets quickly and in summers takes some more time.
can I use dry coconut instead of fresh?
shilpa, yes you can use.
I’m a cynic of coconut in sweets since I’ve always felt they don’t go very well together. But of course, that’s just me. I make this often but use ground cashews/ almond in place of coconut and AP flour in place of besan since the latter has a very telling effect on my stomach ulcers.
Thanks Deepti for sharing version of making this dish.
Pls tell what is AP flour.
AP flour is all purpose flour and is known as maida or refined flour in india.
HI, looks yummy, can i replace coconut with carrot, with same measure?
Thanks Nagaveni. I won’t suggest this.
Great recipe, as always. Approx. how many minutes each for roasting besan alone and how many minutes each for roasting all ingredients together. Keep up the fantastic work
Thanks Shilpi. For besan its 3 to 4 minutes. Rest will depend upon the flame intensity, size of pan and thickness of pan. So difficult to say. Even for besan the timing can vary.