Tirunelveli Halwa
Tirunelveli Halwa is a legendary halwa of Tirinelveli, Tamilnadu. After diwali I was eager to try this out but was little nervous as the making process little cumbersome. Additionally, I've heard that if we make any small mistake the halwa might turn into a flop show. Never mind, there are 2 important check points where you have to be very careful. I have highlighted them in the method. Start with less quantity and slowly gain experience and increase the quantity.
Ingredients
- 1 cup Whole Wheat
- 3 cup Sugar, White / சர்க்கரை, வெள்ளை
- 20 gm Cashew nut / முந்திரிப் பருப்பு
- 2 cup Ghee / நெய்
Instructions
- Wash well and soak wheat for about 8hours
- Grind wheat and extract milk out of it as much as possible
- Grinding shall be done 3~4 times and extract milk
- Allow the milk to settle down for 4~6hours meanwhile it ferments too
- Now the thick portion sediments under the vessel
- Drain out the excess water
- Stir the thick portion well and keep aside
- Fry cashew in little ghee and keep aside
- Heat a pan in high flame
- Add 1cup of sugar and 2tbsp of water and keep stirring without break
- The sugar will melt, solidify and again melt into sugar syrup
- When it starts melting after solidifying simmer the flame and keep stirring constantly
- The melted sugar will change its color and turns into golden brown
- Add 2cups of water little by little and keep stirring [this is one of the important step in this preparation, add water neither too early nor too late]
- The golden brown sugar syrup once again solidifies and floats over the water, keep stirring until it dissolves
- Add rest of sugar and keep stirring until you get one string consistency [this is another important step in this preparation]
- Add the extracted wheat milk and keep stirring continuously
- The milk will cook and solidify into thick brown paste
- Add ghee little by little and stir well
- The paste will absorb ghee and gives glossy texture
- Add cashew nuts
- Add ghee till the mixture stops absorbing the ghee
- Continuously stir, stir and stir well until the halwa gets into right texture and never gets stick to the pan
- Spread the hot hot halwa into a ghee greased plate and level it
- Serve hot or cold
Notes
Note:
- Making halwa might appear as a tedious process, however the outcome will be really sweet.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
