Best Indian Food: Semolina and Almond Halwa

Halwa, as it is  popularly known in the the Indian subcontinent (mostly in the Northern, Western and Eastern part of India), refers to a sweet confection made with semolina (or nuts or vegetables), sugar, and ghee and garnished with nuts.

A few things to note:

1. In India, the semolina halwa is not made the way I have done here. No almond flour is used and it is made solely with semolina along with sugar, ghee, saffron, cardamom and nuts. I started adding the almond meal simply to increase the nutrition value and of course the flavor of almond is amazing in about anything it is added to. If you are reluctant to use the almond flour, use only semolina.
2. Do not skimp on the ghee. The texture and taste will not be right without enough ghee.
3. Add the sugar towards the end of the cooking process or the semolina will not cook well.
4. The halwa should be just soft enough and kind of sticky enough to hold on together to be shaped into a mold, but should not be gooey, runny and overcooked.
5. Most of the times raisins are used in this halwa; I have not used it here since no one in the family likes it. The use of the kind of nuts varies from one region to another. While the northern regions use almond and pistachios, the halwa in the southern regions of India usually contains cashews.

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup semolina
2. 1/2 cup almond meal
3. 1/4 cup sliced almonds
4. 1/4 cup ghee + 2 tablespoons ghee
5. 2 + 1/4 cups milk or 2 + 1/4 cups water
6. 1/2 cup + 4 tablespoons sugar or as per taste
   
7. a generous pinch of saffron
8. 6 small green cardamoms, the seeds ground into a smooth powder

Preparation:

In a pan, add the milk and saffron and bring to a boil. Once it comes to a boil, take off the heat and set aside. (If you are using water instead of milk, combine the saffron and sugar and boil/simmer the water for about 7-10 minutes. set aside.)

In a large thick bottomed pan at medium heat  (make sure the pan is completely dry), add the semolina and the almond meal and roast them at low to medium heat for about 3-4 minutes. The color of the semolina and the almond meal will turn light golden. This initial roasting eliminates the raw smell of the semolina.

Reduce the heat of the stove to low and add the ghee to this pan. Quickly stir everything together and add the cardamom powder. Keep stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, while pulling the semolina and the almond flour away from the walls of the pan and inside out. The semolina, almond meal will gradually turn a darker shade and will become very fragrant. You will see the semolina and the pan glistening with the ghee. You have to be patient and keep stirring so the semolina does not turn too dark. This process/step might take as long 15 minutes.

Add the thinly sliced almonds to the pan and stir them in gently making sure they do not break.

Remove the pan from the heat and pour the milk/or water that you had set aside into the pan. PLEASE BE CAREFUL!! The hot semolina and the milk will bubble and spit all over the place.. almost like an explosion – (well may be that is an exaggeration, but you have to take care anyway). Put the pan back on the stove and let the halwa cook, while stirring it constantly till all the liquid is just about absorbed and the mixture no more looks soupy. Add the sugar in the pan and keep stirring at low heat till all the liquid is absorbed and the semolina swells and gets cooked through, for about 5 -7 minutes or  until the the mixture pulls away from the walls of the pan.

Switch off the heat and partially cover the pan for about 10 minutes. The texture should be sticky and lumpy and the semolina should soft; yet the grains of the semolina should feel separate and grainy.

This is how it should look like when done.