This is one of those posts where I take absolutely no credit for coming up with these recipes. These are the Halwa ( dense sweet confections or dessert served in South East Asia) varieties that have been made and tasted by some amazing everyday chefs like you and me. And this comes right in time for the Indian festival season, from their kitchen to yours and mine -A Collection of Halwas. Easy to make, these are conjured from everyday fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains. A quick sweet meat for your sweet tooth starting with a universal favorite- Gajar ka Halwa. Bon Appetite.
Gajar (Carrot) Halwa
Ingredients
1 kg Carrots, 1 litre Milk, 1 teaspoon Cardamom seeds, 3/4 cup Water, 3 tablespoons Ghee, 2 tablespoons Raisins, 2 tablespoons Almonds, 2 tablespoons Pistachios, 450 grams Sugar.
Method
Wash and grate the carrots. Soak the raisins in water for 30 minutes. Blanch and shred the nuts. In a pan boil water add grated carrots to the boiling water and cook for 5-7 minutes. Add milk and sugar and cook on a low flame for 1 hour stirring occasionally. Mix well until the sugar has dissolved and all the milk absorbed. Add ghee and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add the slightly crushed cardamoms and the raisins and Mix well. Remove from heat and garnish with almonds and pistachios. Serve cold, hot or at room temperature.
Apple Halwa
Gajar (Carrot) Halwa
Ingredients
1 kg Carrots, 1 litre Milk, 1 teaspoon Cardamom seeds, 3/4 cup Water, 3 tablespoons Ghee, 2 tablespoons Raisins, 2 tablespoons Almonds, 2 tablespoons Pistachios, 450 grams Sugar.Method
Wash and grate the carrots. Soak the raisins in water for 30 minutes. Blanch and shred the nuts. In a pan boil water add grated carrots to the boiling water and cook for 5-7 minutes. Add milk and sugar and cook on a low flame for 1 hour stirring occasionally. Mix well until the sugar has dissolved and all the milk absorbed. Add ghee and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add the slightly crushed cardamoms and the raisins and Mix well. Remove from heat and garnish with almonds and pistachios. Serve cold, hot or at room temperature.
Apple Halwa
Ingredients
Method
Peel the apples and grate them. Heat ghee (clarified Butter) in a thick bottomed pan. Add the grated apple and fry on a medium flame, till all the water evaporates and the apples look cooked. It takes about 10mins or so. Measure the amount of cooked apple and add equal quantity/ volume of sugar. Cook till the mixture thickens, stirring occasionally so that the sugar is mixed well with apples. Towards the end, Stir continuously to prevent it from burning and sticking to the pan. Add the chopped or coarsely powdered almonds. This would dry it up a bit which is when you add the cardamom powder and mix throughly .
Transfer the contents onto a greased(with ghee) plate or cutting board or wax paper. Flatten it with a rolling pin. (note: To avoid sticking to rolling pin, grease it with some ghee).
Cut it into squares or rectangle or any other shape that you fancy. Let it cool down a bit before serving.
Green Peas Halwa
Ingredients
4 cups green peas (frozen or fresh), 2½ cups sugar, 2 tablespoon cashew pieces, 1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder, 2 tablespoon ghee, ½ cup whole milk
Method
Microwave green peas with 1/2 cup water for 5 mins (or cook on stove top for 5-6mins). Grind into a smooth paste. Heat the paste in a thick bottomed pan stirring continuously for about 10mins. Add sugar & cashews and cook it for about 15-20mins, Stirring often to prevent it from burning. Add ghee & milk to the mixture and stir it. Cook the mixture until it starts to look dry. Add cardamom powder, mix well and serve.
Ps: This sticks to bottom of the pan very quickly. So keep stirring it. The sweetness largely depends on the sweetness of the peas. Start with 1 cup sugar, taste it and if required, gradually increase the sugar. Use a big pan to give enough room for stirring.
Beetroot Halwa
Ingredients
Method
Heat ghee in a thick bottomed kadai. Add the beetroot. Keep mixing it once in a while. Keep the heat on medium to avoid burning.
When it looks cooked and reduced in quantity, add sugar. Mix. Let it cook down. When the mixture starts looking dry, take off heat. Add cardamom powder, mix. Serve warm or chilled. (Add cashews fried in ghee on top if required).
Adarak (Ginger) Halwa
Ingredients
½ cup grated Adarak(Ginger), 1 teaspoon ghee (clarified Butter) , gud /jaggery ( preferably powdered), powdered black pepper
Method
Fry ginger in ghee until it turns rosy in color. Add gud. After the gud melts completely remove from flame and sprinkle some pepper powder on it.
It gives temporary relief from common cold.
Moong dal (green gram or golden gram) Halwa
Ingredients
Method
Wash dal thoroughly and soak in 3 cups of water for at least 4 hours. Drain the water and blend dal into a thick paste, adding just enough water as needed to blend. Boil water and sugar in a pan over medium heat, for 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat. Add cardamom powder and saffron; set aside.In a heavy bottom frying pan add moong dal paste and melted butter. Mix well.Turn on the stove to medium heat and fully cook the dal paste. Use spatula to gently press the paste, then fold the paste over and press again. Repeat this pressing and folding of the dal paste several times until the texture becomes grainy and light brown in color. This will take approximately 15 minutes, and will have a sweet, mild aroma when it is cooked.Lower the heat to medium-low. Add sugar syrup to the dal, little at a time (watch out for the splattering syrup ). Cover and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes.Remove cover, stir and cook for another minute. Turn off the heat.Garnish with almonds. The halwa will thicken over time.
Ps: A Variation of this without garnishing with Almonds, can be used to make Poli's or stuffed sweet rotis.
Singhare ke atte ka (Water Chestnut Flour ) Halwa
Ingredients
1 cup singhare ka atta (water chestnut flour), 1 cup sugar, 4 ½ cups water, 6 tablespoon ghee, ½ tsp green cardamoms-powdered, 1 tablespoon almonds-blanched, shredded.
Method
Put ghee in heavy pan and melt it then add the flour. Adjust flame to medium, stir properly to prevent scorching. Mix water and sugar in another pan until the sugar dissolves completely in the boiling water. Simmer the flame.When the flour is properly fried, add the sugar solution along with cardamom powder and bring it to a boil and again simmer the flame until the liquid is absorbed. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking and lumping. Turn the flame off, when a thin line of melted ghee is formed around the edges. Garnish with almonds and serve hot. This can also be set on a greased plate and cut into small squares.
Pumpkin Halwa
Ingredients
1 cup grated pumpkin, 1 tablespoon Sugar, 1 tablespoon Milk, 1 tablespoon Ghee (clarified Butter), 1/4 tsp cardamom or Elachi powder, 5-6 finely chopped Almonds, 5-6 finely chopped Cashews, 5-6 finely chopped Pistachios
Method
Heat ghee in a heavy bottomed pan, add the grated pumpkin and stir well until the pumpkin is half cooked. Add milk and cook until the pumpkin is tender. Add Sugar & cardamom powder and stir on low flame until it thickens to halwa consistency. Remove from heat and garnish with almonds, cashews and pistachios. Serve hot.
Dates Halwa
Ingredients
Method
Soak the dates in hot water, for about an hour and grind it along with milk. Heat a heavy bottomed pan. Add Sugar with little water. When this syrup reaches one string consistency*, add the ground date paste, cashews, almonds, and saffron. Keep stirring until it becomes little thick. When the halwa sticks to the bottom, add ghee little by little and cook till halwa consistency is reached. Decorate with cashews or almonds
* One string consistency- when tested between thumb and forefinger a string is formed.
Makai ( Sweet Corn) Halwa
Ingredients
2 tablespoon ghee, 1 cup Sweet corn (makai), 1 cup full fat milk, ½ cup sugar, 2 tablespoon fresh grated coconut, ½ teaspoon cardamom (elaichi) powder, A few saffron (kesar) strands, ½ cup chopped mixed nuts, A piece of edible silver leaf (vark) for the garnish.
Method
Heat the ghee in a heavy bottomed pan, add sweet corn and sauté until it turns golden brown. While stirring continuously, add milk and sugar and simmer till the sugar dissolves. Add grated coconut, cardamom powder and saffron and cook till the halwa leaves the sides of the pan. Garnish with dry fruits and mix well. Can be Served with edible silver foil (optional)
Lauki (Bottle gourd) Halwa
Ingredients
Method
Peel Lauki and grate it. Heat ghee in a heavy pan and add grated lauki to it. Cook until the vegetable smell is lost (about 3-4 minutes). Add milk and let it cook till the lauki becomes tender. Keep stirring. Add khoa and continue cooking for a while. When the mixture is lumpy, add sugar and cook until it dissolves completely. Before serving, garnish with dry fruits and edible silver foil (optional)
Besan (Chickpea / Gram flour) Halwa
Ingredients
Method
Heat ghee in a thick bottom pan. Add besan to it and fry it until it starts changing color. When besan has turned light golden brown in color then you know its time to add water. Add water slowly and keep stirring the besan thoroughly so that it doesn't form lumps. Now add sugar and cardamom powder and blend it all together and stir until the water is fully absorbed. Garnish it with nuts. Serve hot.
Badaam (Almond) Halwa
Ingredients
Method
Grind the blanched almonds and milk in a food processor to a coarse paste. Heat 2 tablespoons of ghee in a heavy bottom pan, add the almond mixture and cook in medium heat for 3-4 minutes, stirring all the while slowly to avoid sticking to the bottom. Add sugar, stirring constantly. Cook for another 5-10 minutes until you see the mixture boiling. Add the remaining tablespoon(s) of ghee and saffron at this point and keep stirring for some more time. You know its done when the mixture comes together into one thick lump. It stops sticking to the pan.
Aloo (Potato) Halwa
Ingredients
Method
Heat ghee in a pan and put mashed potatoes. Cook them on a low flame till the potatoes get a reddish brown roasted colour.. Add sugar, cardamom powder and fried chopped nuts and mix.
Bread Halwa
Ingredients
Method
In a bowl mix milk , cardamom powder & Khoa . Soak the bread slices in the milk mixture along with raisins till they are soft. Make sure there are no breads lump's in the mixture. Heat oil In a wok or pan and fry the bread mixture on low heat till it browns (Consider it cooked only when the oil separates from the mixture). Add ghee to the mixture before removing from heat. Garnish with slivers of pistachio and cashew nuts.
Khus khus (Poppy Seeds) Halwa
Ingredients
Method
Soak khuskhus overnight. Grind the khuskhus into a fine paste using little water. Heat ghee in a pan and add khuskhus paste. Stir continuously on a medium flame till the mixture becomes golden brown (approx 20-25 mins). Add milk & sugar and mix well till the sugar dissolves. It will leave the side of the pan. Garnish with almond pieces.
Atta (Wheat flour) Halwa
Ingredients
Method
Take water and sugar in a skillet and bring it to a boil, to dissolve the sugar. In a separate pan mix the flour with ghee and cook it till it turns brown. Add the sugar syrup while stirring continuously when it thickens remove it from flame. Garnish with Almonds.
