Moong Dal Halwa

Though this is a very famous Indian desert I can actually count on my fingers the number of times I have had it, the first time I had it was at my Mumbai dentist’s daughter’s wedding reception and the second time was at Diwali at a close friend’s place and both of these were absolutely yum. The third time I had this was when I made it the first time during the period when I was very new to the kitchen many years ago and it turned out all lumpy and pretty bad.

I tried it again about a few weeks back and realized why it is not such an often made desert; it is quite a tedious process to make it well. But it did turn out good and that is what matters in the end I guess. So here comes the recipe…

Ingredients

1 cup yellow moong dal,

1 cup ghee,

¾ cup khoya,

A pinch of saffron,

½ cup warm milk,

1 tbsp besan,

1 cup sugar,

Some peeled and slivered almonds

Method

Soak the moong dal overnight or at least for 8 hours. Grind this into a coarse paste using as little water as possible.

Make a one-string consistency sugar syrup using the sugar and 1 ½ cup of water.

Soak the saffron in the warm milk.

Heat ghee and add the besan. Let it turn golden, then add the ground moong dal. Now is the tedious part fry this on a low flame till it takes a golden brown hue…this should easily take about an hour and a quarter at least.

Now fold in the sugar syrup and the saffron flavoured milk. Mix this well and fold in the khoya and cook till well mixed.

Garnish it with the slivered almonds. This tastes best warm.