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Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Easy breezy wheat halwa

When you hear the words wheat/godambu halwa, what do you think of???
Quite likely, you are reminded of your grandma or mother stirring the mixture for hours together in a heavy iron kadai while the aroma swirled around the household tantalisingly. While they sweated and toiled, you stood around waiting for them to finish so you lick the spoon clean once they were done.
Now, what if I were to tell you that you could recreate the same taste and smell without really breaking your back? No, don't look sceptical....I really do mean it.
In my kitchen, I always look for ways and means to make cooking less of a chore and more of a fun thing....I try and make things simpler without compromising on the taste. Here's how you can make wheat halwa with minimum stirring and maximum taste....

What you need:
Samba wheat rava(the kind with fine grains) - 1 cup
Sugar
Water
Ghee - 3 tbsp
Food colour - a pinch(I used red)
Fried cashew (optional)

Soak wheat rava in plenty of water for 30 minutes. Drain the water. Take the rava in a juicer or blender. Add a glass of water and blend to extract milk. Strain and keep this milk aside. Repeat this process three times. Let the milk stand undisturbed for 30 minutes. Gently pour away the water that would have collected on top by then and measure the thick milk that would have settled at the bottom. For every cup of milk that you have, add 3 cups of sugar and 3 cups of water.
Stir well and cook in a pressure cooker until one whistle. Then mix well and transfer the contents to a large microwaveable bowl. Microwave on high heat for 30 minutes.....making sure that you stop and mix the halwa gently every five minutes. Be careful when you do this 'coz the mixture does tend to bubble and release a lot of steam. The time taken could vary depending on your microwave....so keep a close watch to see when it is done.
Garnish with fried cashews.
At this point, you can cut this into dainty little squares or triangles or whatever shape you fancy.....I choose to leave it as is and just scoop it up with a spoon everytime I pass by.This halwa is made for the lovely duo who came up with Open Sesame 2.

24 comments:

Unknown said...

Jayashree - Glad u cud make to OS 2, right on time! the voting on DH began. so u can update ur readers about the same!

Cheers,
Siri

sra said...

That's a nice shot, Jayashree! I guess the colour's natural - I've no experience with wheat halwa, not even sure I've eaten it!

FH said...

It looks almost like a beautiful Apricot Jam. Good looking Halwa Jaya!:))

Latha Narasimhan said...

Looks like it is halwa season! That too goduma halwa season! :)) Yours looks perfect dear! :))

Srivalli said...

thats a wonderful dish..the colour looks great!

Lata said...

Great Recipe, never tasted this before in India but I am gonna try.

TBC said...

Love the gorgeous color! I remember seeing one on Srivalli's blog too very recently...

Cham said...

Wow, i thought Jam, delicous halwa

Unknown said...

mmm that looks delicious..

Rachel said...

I just love the colour..perfect....

bee said...

that is a sexy-looking halwa.

EC said...

I have been avoiding making wheat halwa thinking of the long process...now I have a short cut..btw, can i stir on the stove instead of mw???

Kalai said...

Amazing halwa, Jayashree! Thanks for simplifying the process! :)

SpicyTasty said...

That looks perfect. Just reminds me of my mom's halwa.

Bhawana said...

nice post. will try this once./

Unknown said...

Wow...the halwa looks yummy!

Bharathy said...

Very intersting recipe!Worth a try soon, for sure! :)

Cynthia said...

Want some!

Andhra Flavors said...

This sweet is very famous in my area but we add more ghee and nuts in this. nice entry.

mitr_bayarea said...

Jayashree-

wheat halwa brought back lots of mouth watering memories, I love the wheat halwa that Grand Sweets, Adyar makes.

Shreya said...

Hi Jayashree, nice blog. I never knew of wheat halwa, and this method is totally new to me. Nice colour and picture. I am sure it is tasty as well.:-)

Archana Vivek said...

Looks great and Tempting:-)

Dibs said...

Wow - very different from Papu Pati's godi halwa! Lovely snap! I will surely experiment microwave halwa over the weekend!

Anonymous said...

I tried this out...truly easy and tasted a little bit like the Tirunelvelli halwa! Thank you for the recipe.