Being from the southern tip of Tamilnadu, I grow up eating Thoothukudi Macaroon, Kerala Chips and Tirunelveli Halwa. Already I have tried macaroon and chips recipe at home, but never had an idea about, how the halwa is made. I had a paper cutting from a Tamil magazine and an article from The Hindu about the preparation of Tirunelveli halwa. However, the measurements were for bulk quantity and I had doubts in that. When I was planning for Diwali recipes a month ago, this top's the list. From that day I started analyzing about this recipe, visited many blogs and youtube videos too. Finally, I adapted the recipe from Rak's Kitchen and it came out extremely well. The last Sunday I attempted it and it was like a final assessment for me. I woke up early in the morning before Jany and Happy wake up so that I can cook peacefully without getting diverted :) I would say it is not very tough if we try it in a small quantity and we should take extra care while caramelizing the sugar and in the consistency check. Do try this delicious and melt in the mouth halwa for this Diwali. Check out my Kasi Halwa, Corn Flour Halwa, Badam Halwa, Carrot Halwa and Khajoor ka Halwa too. For the entire Diwali sweet and savories, please visit this page.
Ingredients:Whole wheat berries - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1 & 1/2 cup
Ghee - 3/4 cup
Cashew nuts - few(Broken)
Method:
5. Then dries again for a minute before it starts changing the color. Reduce the flame to very low at this stage. (Check the colors in the last two tiles of the below image.) Take care not to burn the sugar and the sugar syrup browns gradually.
6. Now add 1 cup of water to the brown sugar syrup in very low flame. It splutters a lot and hence be very careful while adding water. Add the remaining 1 cup of sugar and allow it to dissolve completely. Stir the sugar constantly and allow it to boil.
7. When the sugar syrup reaches one String consistency( take a drop between your thumb and index finger and move your fingers apart slowly. A string will be formed between the fingers), add the extracted wheat milk. Mix it all together.
8. After adding the wheat milk, the color starts to change and the halwa starts thickening. Now, start adding the ghee, 1 tbsp at a time and keep stirring continuously.
9. The ghee will be incorporated into the halwa and keep stirring constantly. At one point in time, the halwa will not absorb any ghee. Instead, it starts oozing out. Stop adding the ghee and add the fried cashews. Mix it well and the halwa will start leaving the sides of the pan. It will be a very soft and jelly like at this stage, hence don't switch off now. Keep stirring for another 5 to 8 minutes until it is thick and the color starts to become pale. Switch off the flame and if required collect the excess ghee.
Serve it warm. The traditional halwa will not be sliced, hence I have not sliced it. If you prefer, you can set and slice it before serving.
- The color of the halwa is obtained naturally by caramelizing the sugar. Take care not to burn the syrup while doing it else the halwa will be bitter. We have to do this patiently in very low flame.
- The traditional method allows the milk to ferment and settle overnight before making halwa. Refer this link.
- Don't reduce the quantity of ghee used, it will surely compromise the taste. But the excess ghee that oozes out can be collected before serving.
- It takes approximately 30 to 40 mins to get the final halwa after the wheat milk is ready. Hence plan accordingly.
- If you couldn't find the wheat berries, then you can try with wheat flour too. Form a dough similar to chapathi dough and soak it in warm water overnight. Then the next day, extract milk from it and proceed with the same process.
- I got 250 ml of wheat milk from the mentioned 1/2 cup wheat berries. So if using wheat flour, try to get this much quantity of wheat milk and proceed with the same process.
Happy's Cook - Divya
Looks so yummy👌👌👌
ReplyDeleteWow my all time favourite recipe.... so clear and detail explanation
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