I almost forget about this recipe that I prepared for the Spar Diwali booklet in 2012!  I was going through some of my ‘old’ recipes and I prepared a batch of this Halwa….in the old days, it was a bright red in colour…I have opted for the more subtle flavour of rose and delicately tinted pink!

 

Sometimes a Diwali parcel would arrive with green halwa and I would stare at it in horror….it was just not appetizing to look at but really delicious!  All good sweetmeats and mithais take time to make….so please set aside about an hour and thirty minutes for this one!  As with some sweetmeats, this recipe is great for toning the arms!  So no gym necessary.

 

You can play around with the flavours…I sometimes use saffron as and cardamom instead of the rose flavour!  Brightly tinted almonds can be used instead of pistachios if you prefer!

 

 

Happy stirring ….here is the recipe!

 

Rose and Pistachio Halwa

Ingredients:

400ml cornflour

1000ml Spar white sugar

1750ml cold water

20ml lemon juice

5 cardamom pods, finely crushed

250g Spar butter

20ml rose extract

Few drops red food colouring

125ml chopped roasted pistachios

Grease a 30cm x 30cm square pan with butter or non stick spray.

Line the bottom and sides of the pan with plastic wrap.

Grease the surface of the plastic wrap with butter or non stick spray.

Place the cornflour, sugar and cold water into a 30cm AMC pot.

Whisk the mixture until the cornflour is dissolved.

Pour the lemon juice into the pot and add the crushed cardamom.

Cook the mixture on a low to medium heat – make sure the mixture does not stick and burn.

Continue whisking the mixture until it starts to thicken and resembles a clear gel.

Add the butter and continue whisking the mixture for an hour.

When the mixture leaves the sides of the pan, add the rose extract.

Whisk until the halwa mixture almost lifts from the pot.

Pour the mixture into the greased pan and leave to cool.

Sprinkle the chopped pistachios over the halwa.

Refrigerate the halwa once it has reached room temperature.

Remove the halwa from the pan by lifting the plastic wrap.

Place the halwa on a large cutting board and slice into diamonds or triangles.

Yudhika’s tips:

Halwa does take time to prepare – it can be kept in the refrigerator for a month.

Roasted almonds can be used instead of pistachios.