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.