Kerala’s kitchen is well known in the rest-of-India for two authentic recipes, Banana Chips and Halwa (another famous variety is the Calicut-Halwa). This yummy dessert dish is favorite of all festivals and special occasions in the state. Now. let me caution you in advance, this preparation is a little time consuming, require bit of patience and effort. So in case you are not that of a cooking lover and never tasted this, I propose you to taste this wonderful delight first, so that you will get inspiration for taking the effort.
- Roasted rice flour : 2 cups
- Coconut milk : 1 Can (400 ml) diluted with 4 cup of water
- Jaggery : 4 cups
- Cardamom powder : ½ T sp.
- Water : 2 cups
- Ghee : 1 cup
Method
- In a pan add 2 cup of water and add the jaggery .
- Boil it till the jaggery dissolves completely.
- Allow it to cool and then stain it remove any dirt .
- In a kadai/pan add enough ghee and fry the cashews and raisins, and keep aside.
- In a big pan/ kadai ( preferably nonstick ) add the rice flour and add the coconut milk a little at a time and dilute it without any lump formation.
- Then add the jaggery syrup and mix everything together.
- Keep the kadai on the stove and switch on the stove to medium flame.
- Keep on stirring the mix (very important) otherwise it will form lumps.
- Keep on stirring, until its become thick without any liquid traces.
- Add the ghee little by little while keep on stirring until all the ghee is added.
- Now add the fried cashews and raisins along with cardamom powder while keep on stirring.
- The halwa becomes non-sticky to the pan and starts oozing the ghee out. This is the time to check halwa is ready or not.
- Take a little halwa and roll it, if it is sticking to your hands it is not ready yet and need more cooking while stirring .
- If it is not sticking and remains the shape that indicates the time to stop cooking the halwa.
- Grease a tray/ plate with ghee and transfer the halwa and level it with a spatula.
- Allow it to cool completely, and then make pieces into your desired shape.
Tips:-
- Can add more coconut milk for more taste , but make sure the liquid quantity all together ( water+ coconut milk ) should be 8 glass . So if you take more coconut milk, then reduce the quantity of water.
- Increasing the amount of ghee (extra ½ cup) will enhance the taste.
- The color of the jaggery will give the color of the halwa (so make sure to take dark color jaggery)
- Mine it took about 15 minutes to get off all water, then it took about 45 minutes.
- Two people are apt for making halwa easier without any pain. So do it on weekends ,Get help from your husband
