Wheat halwa

Wheat halwa is a popular sweet in south India. In most of the towns you will get this sweet very fresh. I tried to make this sweet at home and it came almost close to the original taste.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup – Whole wheat grains
• 2 cups – Sugar
• 1 cup – Ghee
• 1/2 cup – Water
• 1/4 tsp - Cardamom powder
• 1 pinch - Orange Food Color ( since I didn’t have it i used yellow color)
• 1 tbsp – Cashew nuts (chopped)

Preparation method:

Making of wheat milk:

1. Soak whole wheat grain in water for 8 to 10 hours or overnight. Grind it in a mixie with 1 cup of water and filter the milk. This is the first milk and set it aside.
2. Return the fibrous wheat to the mixie and add 1/2 cup of water. Grind and repeat the filtering process, this is a second milk and keep it in a separate bowl. Repeat the process again for third milk and then discard the wheat fiber.
3. Set this 3 bowls with milk undisturbed, cover with plastic sheet. After 2 hours, the thick milk will settle in the bottom. Carefully scoop out all the water on the top of the three bowls (see the picture) and discard the water. Finally mix milk in all the three bowls.

Making of halwa:

1. Take a pan, add water, sugar and bring it to boil. Now add food color and reduce the heat to medium. Continue boiling until you reach one string consistency. You can check the correct consistency by taking sugar syrup between the thumb and the index finger a single string will form.
2. Add wheat milk and keep stirring continuously. Do not stop stirring as the milk will tend to settle at the bottom. Stir continuously until it thickens slightly.
3. Add cardamom powder and 1 tbsp of ghee. Keep stirring continuously adding ghee in intervals to avoid drying. After 20 - 25 minutes, you will see the halwa becomes glossy, comes together and it no longer sticks to the bottom. This indicates that halwa is done (as shown in the picture).
4. Finally add chopped cashew nuts to the halwa and mix well. Transfer this to a greased plate and after 15 to 20 mins cut in to desired shape. Wheat halwa is ready.

Notes:

• Keep all the ingredients ready before start making halwa. Because you cannot move here and there while stirring.