I remember waking up in late morning hours with an aroma in house. Often it was from aata (wheat flour) halwa in winters. Behind the aroma was a trick. A trick played by my mom to wake me up. As she new I would want to eat it as soon as it is removed from the gas. Sizzling hot halwa eaten with fingers is one of my favorite breakfast in the winters . This is one thing that I feel does not taste good if you eat it with spoon :) You can eat it plain or with papad for breakfast or after aloo puri as dessert.
This is one of the favorite sweet dish prepared in India for guests, during festivals and celebrations. At times, this is the first dish prepared by a new bride at her in-laws place. If someone bought a new car or new house, first thing that was done was to make halwa at home and offer it to god. I have made very few attempts to make halwa at home. Even though it comprises of three simple and essential ingredients: Flour, Ghee (clarified butter) and Sugar. Some people may find it easy to make it but somehow I always thought its quite complicated precisely for the same reason: it only has three simple ingredients!
I am very picky with this dish as I really like it when it is well cooked and looks dark brown in color in comparison to the less cooked (light brown) version. When I would ask my mom for the recipe, she always says andaje se daal lo, 20 logon ka khana banoge to measuring spoons mein hi aadha din lag jayega ( Just add ingredients with approximation, if you have to prepare food for twenty people every day, half the day will be spend in using measuring spoon). I am amazed how she never tastes the food while she is making it and yet all the spices are perfectly balanced.
When she was visiting me last summer, I convinced her to use the measuring cups to take out each of the ingredients (although she was still making it with her "andaja" but I had my numbers right :)
Ingredients for ~ 1 1/2 -2 cup halwa
1/2 cup wheat flour
6-8 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
1/2 cup sugar
about 3 1/2-4 cups hot water
- Put a karahi (a deep pan) on gas stove on medium heat. Immediately add wheat flour and ghee to the karahi and mix them. Slowly cook them, stirring often so that flour and ghee mixture does not stick to the karahi
- After about 15 minutes, flour mixture will change color from light to dark (if you like your halwa really well done continue to cook for another couple of minutes)
- In parallel, boil 4 cups of water in a pan
- Add hot boiling water to the flour ghee mixture and stir everything really fast. Mix everything properly for about 3-4 minutes or until it becomes a thick mixture. It is very important to mix it properly to remove any clusters of aata in the water/flour mixture. A special type of flat ladle is used to make halwa so that it is easier to mix and scrap while making the halwa.
- Add sugar and continue to stir for another 2 minutes. The mixture will become darker after adding sugar
- Enjoy this for breakfast or eat with papad and add some nuts for garnish
