Chana Dal Halwa

Ingredients

• Skinned Bengal Gram – 1 and 1/4 cup
• Ghee / Clarified butter – 7 tbsp + 1 tsp
• Fresh Cream – 3/4 cup
• Almonds or cashews – 18 to 20
• Elaichi powder / Green cardamom powder – 1/2 tsp
• Sugar – 3/4 cup
• Water – 1/2 cup

Instruction

Step 1: Wipe the chana dal clean with a dry cloth. Add it to a skillet and dry roast it for about 18-20 minutes on low flame. Mix it frequently to avoid burning and excessive browning.

Step 2: After 20 minutes, the chana dal will look like this; golden brown and smells sweet and aromatic.

Step 3: Allow it to cool for 5 minutes. Add it carefully to the mixie jar. Be very careful since the dal is very hot. Make sure your mixie is capable of grinding such hot ingredients, otherwise let it cool down further. I prefer grinding my dal while its still hot because that way it gets ground perfectly.

Step 4: The dal has been ground to a smooth powder. It must be really fine and not grainy at all.

Step 5: In a skillet, heat 1 tsp of ghee and fry almonds on a low flame for about a minute. Stir constantly to prevent burning. The almonds will become golden brown, crunchy and their skin will open up.

Step 6: The almonds are now fragrant. Remove them onto a plate. Break the almonds with a pestle into tinier bits or chop them. Don’t forget to reserve 3-4 almonds for garnish.

Step 7: Add another 6 tbsp ghee in the skillet and allow it to melt. Add in the ground chana dal powder.

Step 8: Mix well to form a smooth thick paste like this. There should be no lumps.

Step 9: Roast it for 15-20 minutes on very low heat till it becomes fragrant and browns a bit. Stir around constantly to avoid burning the mixture. The raw smell of chana dal would have gone away completely.

Step 10: In the meanwhile, prepare the sugar syrup. Take sugar and water in a pot of saucepan.

Step 11: Bring it to a boil. Allow it to thicken up till you get 2-string consistency, which means that when you press a drop of warm sugar syrup between your thumb and index finger and pull them apart, the drop of sugar syrup should be sticky enough to form two strings.

Step 12: The sugar syrup will need about 12-15 minutes to be ready.

Step 13: When the chana dal powder has gotten roasted and the sugar syrup is ready, add the sugar syrup into the chana dal mixtures slowly with a ladle, little by little. Be very careful. Both ingredients are very hot and the mixture sizzles violently when you add the sugar syrup in.

Step 14: Mix gently till you get a smooth paste. Allow it to cook for another minute.

Step 15: Add in the fresh cream and cardamom powder. Mix well.

Step 16: After cooking for about 30 seconds, add in the fried almonds. Mix well.

Step 17: Add the remaining 1 tbsp of ghee in the end and mix.

Step 18: Chana Dal Halwa is ready. Transfer it to a serving bowl and garnish with the remaining almonds. Enjoy!