We are officially on Diwali schedule and how exciting is that?! Deepavali or Diwali is the festival of lights celebrated all over India and this year, it falls on Oct 27th or 28th depending on which part of India you are from 🙂 As Deepavali is one of my most favorite festivals, I plan elaborate sweets and savories well in advance. This year too, I have new recipes lined up to be shared with you all. I am starting off this with a really simple but extremely delicious sweet recipe – Karachi Halwa.
Halwa happens to be my favorite. But with the insane amounts of ghee that goes into making this dessert, I have always restrained myself from trying it at home. Given my weakness for sweets, it is better avoided. Karachi Halwa, also known as Bombay Halwa is an exception to it. I just used 2 tablespoon of ghee for a whole lot of halwa and it still turned out amazing! As you can guess from the name of this halwa, it is made from corn flour. The traditional halwa recipes are made from the milk extracted from wheat and it is a long process that is labor intensive. Again, not with this easy and simple Karachi Halwa.
I have fond memories of relishing this Karachi Halwa, not quite knowing its name at my maternal grandparents’ place. My ammumma (maternal grandma) made the best corn flour halwa using custard powder and I can still taste it at the tip of my tongue although it has been more than 2 decades. Some food memories are so special that you don’t feel like tarnishing them. This halwa recipe is one such for me. I followed the same recipe, except that I added some artificial color (unlike her white halwa) to make it pop! It was a nostalgic journey savoring piece after piece, remembering the good old times. So, here I am sharing a piece of my childhood, with this recipe for Karachi Halwa. Do try it out this Diwali. Check out other Diwali recipes!
📖 Recipe
In a nonstick pan, heat 1 teaspoon of Ghee and fry the broken cashews until golden brown. Remove and set them aside.
In the same pan, bring 1.5 cups of Sugar and 1 cup of Water together to boil.
Meanwhile, make a slurry of the corn flour and 1.5 cups of Water along with the food color, mix well without any lumps.
As the sugar is completely dissolved, keep stirring on medium heat until it begins to boil and get sticky. The sugar syrup need not get to 1-string consistency.
Pour over the corn flour slurry and mix well before there are any lumps.
On medium flame, continue cooking the mixture and slowly the corn flour begins to set. Notice the change of color at few places.
Continue cooking the mixture on medium flame, stirring constantly. It becomes transparent.
As the mixture begins to thicken, add cardamom powder and fried cashews. Mix well.
Keep stirring the mixture as it begins to thicken further.
Add ghee at this stage and keep stirring the halwa to incorporate the ghee and cook the halwa.
It thickens completely and doesn’t easily drop from the ladle, also leaving from the sides of the pan. At this stage, drop a small portion of mixture onto a plate. If it sets in next couple of minutes, the halwa is done.
Prepare a plate greased with some ghee.
Quickly pour over the halwa onto the plate and even out the top as much as possible. Let it set for about an hour at room temperature.
Gently cut the halwa using a knife and remove the pieces.
Serve warm or cold. Stays fresh in the fridge for upto 4 days in an airtight container.
If you prefer the halwa to be not set, remove it when it is still runny and it can be served in bowls. Traditionally this sweet is either orange, red or yellow in colors – you can skip the artificial colors if you wish. In addition to the broken cashews, melon seeds can also be added.
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