January 19, 2010

Moong dal halwa ~ Indian Cooking Challenge

I was happy to note the moong dal halwa for December challenge was the North Indian version since I recently made the South Indian version called Ashoka halwa. The recipe is from a fellow blogger Simran's Mom. Thanks to Latakka who tried both the versions of recipe and gave useful notes, before we all started with the challenge. I chose to follow the recipe with the khova version. I had planned to prepare khoya at home but could not make it. So in place of khoya, I used milkmaid and rest of the recipe is same. I was not quite impressed by the end result though it tasted good. I felt it needed some more perfection. After seeing many successful attempts from my fellow bloggers and notes from their experience, I am tempted to try it soon. 






Here is the recipe

Soaking Time : Overnight

Preparation Time : 15 minutes

Cooking Time : 30 - 45 mins


Ingredients Needed:

Split (Yellow) Moong dal - 1 cup

Sugar -  1 cup
Clarified Butter / Ghee - 1/2 cup

Khoya - 1/2 cup

Cashew nuts and raisins for garnish



You can make any quantity with this as long as you keep this ratio constant : equal amounts of  dal and sugar, half the ghee and khoya.



Method to prepare:

Lightly roast the 1 cup of moong dal, wash, soak overnight and be ground to a fine paste adding  very little water.

Take a thick bottom pan, heat 1/2 cup ghee and fry the moong dal paste till it turns brownish  and releases the ghee.  This step tests your arm strength.

Add sugar and khoya.

Stir fry until both the sugar and khoya are well absorbed. Turn off the heat, then mix in cashew  nuts and raisins.