Badam Halwa Using Almond flour | Easy Badam Halwa

Badam Halwa, a rich and delicious sweet made with almond, milk, ghee and sugar. Even today, it's consider as one of the  luxurious sweets because of its richness and heavenly taste.   

Traditionally, Badam Halwa is made from the whole almonds and the whole process is taking a very long time because it involves soaking the almonds, peeling them and then ground them into fine paste. Now, thanks to the readily available almond flour so that you can skip all those steps and make the badam halwa under 30 mins. 

Almond Flour 

In the market, if you're looking for 'grounded almond', you can find almond flour and almond meal. This recipe requires almond flour not the almond meal. Almond flour is basically made from the blanched almonds .So make sure to get the almond flour which has more fine texture compared to almond meal.

Also, in some places, almond meal is made with whole skinned almonds, so the color of the almond meal would be little darker compared to almond flour.

Flavoring Agents

Here in this recipe, i have used both saffron and cardamom for the flavors. I never thought of making Badam Halwa without saffron. But one of my friends told me that she liked it without any flavoring because that's how badam halwa is made by her family for years. 

So it's more of a personal choice or how you like it than what recipe calls for, right?. Hence you can use any one of this flavoring agents or you can skip the both . Still it would be delicious.

 

Milk

Whole or full fat milk is the best for this halwa. For this badam halwa recipe, I have used 1.5 cups of liquid out of which 1 cup is milk. You can make this recipe with 1/2 cup of milk too. But the richness and the creaminess wouldn't be the same. 

Adding more milk would increase the cooking time but however it gives the rich flavor so i highly recommend to use the given quantity of milk for better tasting halwa.

Now let's see how to make this delicious and rich badam halwa!

Badam Halwa Using Almond flour

Preparation Time : 0 mins | Cooking Time : 25 mins | Serves : 4 
Recipe Category: Sweets | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Badam Halwa with Almond flour, Almond flour halwa Badam Halwa, a rich and delicious sweet made with almond, milk, ghee and sugar.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients

Almond flour/ meal - 1 cup

Sugar - 1/2 cup

Water - 1/2 cup

Milk - 1 cup

Saffron - a few strands 

Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp

Ghee - 1/4 cup

Procedure

First soak the saffron in 2 tbsp of warm milk for 30 mins. Heat a non-stick pan, add the 2 tbsp of ghee, let it melt completely and then add the almond flour.

Keep the heat in medium and roast the almond flour in the ghee for 3-4 mins. Make sure that the almond flour doesn't change color. Next keep the heat  low and add the water.

Cook till all the water is absorbed by the almond flour. Next add the remaining milk after using i2 tbsp for soaking saffron and mix it continuously so that it doesn't form any lump and smooth. Now increase the heat to medium.

Cook the mixture till the milk quantity is reduced to 1/2(Make sure that the heat is medium and stir it frequently otherwise the bottom would be burnt). Now add the sugar. When the sugar melts, the mixture again loosen a bit. 

Cook the mixture till it become thick. It would take approximately 18-20 mins after adding the milk to the mixture with medium heat. When the mixture starts to thicken, it splatter a bit, so be careful.   At this stage add the saffron milk. Mix it well and the mixture turns pale yellow.

Finally add the remaining ghee and cardamom powder. Cook it for another 3-4 mins and switch off the flame.

Delicious Badam Halwa is ready.

Related : How to make Bombay Karachi Halwa

You can serve this halwa in a bowl or you can pack a spoonful of halwa in a butter paper and serve it like in marriage function. Store the remaining in the refrigerator.

Related: How to make Almond Flour Cookies

Notes:

• This Halwa tends to thicken when it's cool down completely. So remove from the heat when it's a bit runny.
• Added a few pistachios for garnishing on the top. But this halwa doesn't need any nuts.

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Gajar ka Halwa | Carrot Halwa | Indian Carrot Pudding

Gajar ka Halwa, a delicious and rich indian pudding made from carrot, milk, sugar & nuts.  Each region of India has different names for Gajar ka halwa such as carrot halwa, gajar park, gajrela & gajorer halua. 

Nowadays, there are a lot of recipes available online on how to make gajar ka halwa quickly using khova or using a pressure cooker to speed up the process, but today i'm gonna share the traditional way of making gajar ka halwa without any shortcuts. 

All you need is just a handful of ingredients, constant stirring and a lot of patience to make this yummy sweet, but it's totally worth the result.   

Gajar ka halwa is usually made from red carrots/delhi carrots and it gives such a wonderful color to the halwa without any artificial color. In north india, this dessert is prepared in winter months when the red carrots are in season, but you can use the normal orange carrots also.

On our last visit to indian store here, I got this beautiful delhi carrot/red carrot, so in today's recipe, I'm using that to make this delicious halwa. In addition to the red carrots, I bought the siru kizhangu(don't know the english name) which is one of my favorite root vegetables available only around pongal time even in our home town, Tirunelveli. Glad that the indian store here sources all the seasonal veggies from across India in addition to the regular veggies.

Related : Kasi Halwa/ Pumpkin Halwa

Now coming back to the halwa recipe, i have used 2 cups of full fat milk for 1 & 1/2 cups of grated carrot. More milk means more khoya in the halwa, more khoya makes the halwa delicious and rich. So depending on how rich you want your halwa, you can start from 1 cup and use up to 2 cups of milk.

Last week around christmas time, i had prepared this halwa, drafted the post and kept it ready to post on New year day. Though I have my own doubts on certain beliefs, it's hard to give up on the traditions we grew up with, right? Has anyone ever felt that way?? Starting off the New year with sweets, not only in the real world, like the post here, in the blogging world also, I'm following that tradition😀.

Related : Crispy and Juicy Jalebi

Let me not go deep into that subject on new year day, will share my thoughts later. So now, Happy new year to all my friends and readers, have a good one !!! Without any further delay, let's check out the recipe.

Gajar ka Halwa | Carrot Halwa

Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : 25 mins | Serves : 3 
Recipe Category: Sweet | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Gajar Ka Halwa, carrot halwa, gajar park, gajrela, gajorer halua,carrot pudding,red carrot dessert,indian dessert Gajar ka Halwa, a delicious and rich indian pudding made from carrot, milk, sugar & nuts. .

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Red Carrot - 1 & 1/2 cup(grated)
Milk - 2 cups
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Sugar - 1/4 cup
Pistachio - 1 tbsp 
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp

Procedure

First peel the carrot and grate it finely.

Heat the pan with 1/2 tbsp of ghee, measure the carrot and add into the ghee.

Saute the carrot in the ghee for 5 mins, then add the milk.

Mix it well and bring into boil. Once the milk starts to boil, keep the flame in low and let it simmer.

Cook till all the liquid from the milk evaporates, stir it occasionally to avoid burning at the bottom.

Next add the sugar, let it melts and then add the cardamom powder.

Keep it in flame until it starts to thicken again. Add the remaining 1/2 tbsp of ghee and remove from the flame & garnish with pistachios.

Tasty Carrot Halwa is ready. 

Related : How to make Sweet Potato Halwa

Related : Indian Sweets/ Mithai Collections

Notes:

• Instead of red carrot, you can use the regular carrot too.
• Constant stirring helps to avoid burning/ sticking at the bottom.
  
  

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Sweet Potato Halwa | Sakkaravalli Kizhangu Halwa | Deepavali Sweet

Sweet Potato Halwa, a quick to make halwa from the sweet potato. If you' ve been following my blog regularly, you might know that for this week I'm posting colorful dishes with the naturally available ingredients without using any food color. 

Though I have been buying sweet potatoes regularly, I never thought of making halwa, mostly made stir fry or just steam and have it for evening time, but when I signed up for this theme, I wanted to make something sweet with sweet potato since it's deepavali time !!!

So I had started searching for the dessert recipe with sweet potato, that's when I came across this halwa recipe from manjula's kitchen, the recipe was so easy and sounds so delicious too.

In the next couple of days, i had prepared this and as expected the taste and texture was amazing, unless you have told, no one can find that this halwa is made from sweet potato. ST also didn't find out and kept on asking me what halwa it is till he finishes off his share of halwa :-)

Unlike other halwa recipes, it doesn't need a lot of sugar and ghee, still it's lip smacking delicious. Adding milk gives such a rich flavor to this halwa.It's so simple to make, even beginners can try without any difficulties. 

But one thing you have to make sure that the mashed sweet potatoes are sauteed well in the ghee before adding any other ingredients to avoid that raw potato flavor in the final halwa. Now let's check out how to make this delicious halwa.  

About the Sweet Potato

Sweet Potatoes available here in North America are usually in bright orange color, so I haven't used any color in my halwa. But in India, the sweet potatoes are mostly in pale yellow or mild orange color, if you're using that variety and want bright color halwa, feel free to add a few drops or pinch of orange food color.

About the sugar quantity

In the ingredient list, I have mentioned the sugar quantity as 1/3 to 1/2 cup because depending on the sweetness of the potato, the amount of sugar varies ! So if your sweet potato has enough sweet, I would recommend starting off with 1/3 cup of sugar and increase if needed after giving a quick taste test !

 

Sweet Potato Halwa

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 25 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Halwa | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Sweet Potato Halwa,Sakkaravalli Kizhangu Halwa,Indian Halwa Recipe,Diwali sweet,Deepavali Sweet Sweet Potato Halwa, a delicious and easy to make halwa with sweet potato,milk,sugar and ghee.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Sweet Potato(mashed) - 1 cup
Milk - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1/3 to  1/2 cup
Ghee - 2 tbsp
Cardamom - 2 
Cashews - 6

Procedure

First pressure cook the sweet potato and keep it ready, remove the skin and mashed them well.

I had approximately 1 cup mashed sweet potato. Heat the pan with 1 & 1/2 tbsp of ghee, add the cashews.

Roast them till it becomes slightly golden brown, then remove it on the plate. In the same ghee, add the mashed sweet potato.

Saute them in the ghee until it becomes non sticky and move along with the laddle.

Then add the milk in to the mashed potato.

Mix it well and cook again until it becomes a thick mass. After adding milk, the mixture tends to splatter a little, so be careful while stirring. 

Next add the sugar and mix it well. At this stage, the mixture becomes little watery, but that's completely normal. Then add the crushed cardamom into the halwa.

Add the remaining 1/2 tbsp of ghee into the halwa now and stir it continuously till the halwa becomes glossy, non-sticky and move along with the laddle.

Finally add the roasted cashews into the halwa and switch off the flame. Halwa is ready to serve.

Tasty and vibrant looking Sweet Potato Halwa is ready.

Related : How to make Lauki Halwa / Bottle gourd Halwa

Notes:

• Depends on the sweetness of the potato, you may need up to 1/2 cup of sugar. My potatoes are already sweet, so i have used 1/3 cup of sugar only.
• Saute the mashed potato in the ghee till it becomes non sticky. That gives the wonderful aroma to the halwa, otherwise you get the strong smell of the potato.
• Milk gives nice richness to the halwa, if you want more richness, you can add 1/4 cup of khoya too.
• Cook the entire time in medium flame.
  

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Bombay Karachi Halwa | Corn flour halwa | Diwali Recipe

If you want to make easy and tasty halwa for  this diwali , try this.Bombay Karachi Halwa/ Corn Flour halwa is one of the easiest halwa i make so far. It doesn't require any fancy ingredients and within 20 mins you can prepare this halwa. I like the jelly consistency of this halwa. 

The elastic of  the halwa is propotional to the cooking time of the halwa,want more elastic and chewy texture , cook the halwa for few more minutes and viceversa.   

See how glossy it looks

Bombay Karachi halwa | Corn flour halwa

Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 15- 18 pieces 
Recipe Category: Sweets | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

Corn Flour - 1/2 cup

Sugar - 1 1/2 cup

Ghee - 3 tbsp

Water - 2 1/2 cup

Citric acid - a pinch

Cardamom powder - 2 pinch

Cashew - 2 tbsp (broken into small pieces)

Food color - a pinch

Procedure

Heat the pan, add the sugar, citric acid  and 1 1/2  cup of  water and bring to boil.

In a bowl add the flour and add 1 cup of water and food color and mix it well without any lumps and keep it ready.

Once all the sugar is melted, add the flour mixture and start stirring continuously. It slowly starts to thick and became a whole mass.

At this stage , start to add ghee, 1 tbsp at a time mix it well until all the ghee incorporated,then add another tbsp of ghee. 

In the mean time add the cardamom powder and cashew , mix it well in the halwa. Finally add all the ghee and mix it well for 2 more mins. 

Halwa becomes glossy and doesnt stick to the pan ,remove from the flame at this stage.

Pour it in greased plate and smooth the surface and allow to cool for atleast 1 hr. 

Then cut into desired shape and serve.Tasty & simple Bombay Halwa is ready.

Notes

• After adding the flour mixture into sugar syrup, stir it continuously, otherwise it form lot of lumps.
• You can increase or decrease the amount of cashews
• Dont hurry to cut the halwa. Cut into desired shape after completely cooled.
• I used orange food color. Use your choice of color. 
• The more you cook, the halwa become more elastic. 
• You can use lemon use instead of citric acid.

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