Moong Dhall Halwa ~ ICC Dec 2009

This month's challenge is Moong Dhall Halwa. Though I haven't tasted this, I have heard that, this is a famous dish in North Indian weddings. I felt the taste resembled sakkarai pongal with the presence of moong dhall, ghee and nuts.
Thanks to Simran for the recipe and Lataji for her notes on the recipe. Of course, Srivalli, for all her efforts.
I have pasted below, both the methods for halwa. I also did a little change to the recipe.
My update: Since I didn't have khoa handy, I decided to add some sweetened condensed milk. I also added saffron for the delicate flavour it renders. The sweet turned out lip smacking, more like Badam Halwa.

Moong Dal Halwa

Soaking Time : Overnight
Preparation Time : 15 minutes
Cooking Time : 30 - 45 mins

Recipe 1 with khoya

Ingredients Needed:

Split (Yellow) Moong dal - 1 cup
Sugar - 3/4 cup - 1 cup (depending on your preference)
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. 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.


Recipe 2 with just the dal

Split (Yellow) Moong dhal - 1 cup
Ghee - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 3/4 cups to 1 cup (as per required sweetness)
Milk - 1/2 cup (Notes from Lataji - instead of water for the sugar, this gives the khoya added taste, Simran's recipe asked for water)
Cashews/ raisins roasted in ghee for garnish.

Method to Prepare:

Soak 1 cup moong dal overnight. Next morning, grind to a paste.

Heat a heavy Kadai, take initially only 1/2 of the ghee and heat it.

Add the dhal and stir continuously, not allowing lumps to form. This part is very tricky as the dhal cooks really fast, irrespective of the ghee.

Keep the heat at the lowest and keep stirring even after the dhal becomes thick.

Add the rest of the ghee intermittently and cook the dhal until aromatic and the ghee starts oozing out.

Meanwhile mix the sugar with water/ milk in a pan and bring to a boil. Add this slowly to the cooking dhal.

Keep the fir low at all times and break lumps if formed while adding the sugar and water/ milk mix.

Cook until the ghee surfaces.

Garnish with cashews and raisins.

Notes :

Use a thick bottom pan or better nonstick pan
Don't leave the halwa unattended. The dal can stick and it can go from just done to burnt in a second so keep stirring as much as possible. You should remember to keep stirring to prevent dhal from sticking irrespective of the ghee added.
You aren't looking for the halwa to get too thick when you turn off the heat. It was thicken as it cools.
Cook until ghee surfaces on the sides and the halwa attains a very nice shine.
Initially, it may appear that all the ghee is being used up. But as the dhal cooks the ghee separates. So the ghee measure is sufficient.
In both recipes depending on how you got the moong dal paste, you may require slightly more ghee to get the texture
Though original recipe didn't call for roasting the dhal before soaking, Lataji felt roasting it a bit gives more fragrance.

25 comments:

Sheetal Kiran said...

Condensed milk, huh? That's a great idea! I am going to try that the next time ... your halwa looks absolutely delicious!

kitchen queen said...

lovely mouth watering moong dal halwa.I am coming over to taste it.

Valarmathi Sanjeev said...

Halwa looks yummy and delicious.

Priya Suresh said...

Halwa looks fantastic and yummy dear..

lata raja said...

Sree i commented for this on fb. Looks so good dear! Sure it tasted very nice. and as for the near taste of pongal, adhulaiyum idhae paruppu dhaanae:)

Unknown said...

Now this looks real tempting..Addition Condensed milk and khoya gives a ton of taste and flavor to the halwa..

great entry...

Parita said...

Halwa looks delicious, love the color!

Unknown said...

Lovely halwa..Yummmmm

Usha said...

Halwa looks delicious and tempting!

Ramya Vijaykumar said...

Halwa looks very tempting and yummy!!!

Rohini said...

Mmm.. Looks wonderful dear.. I missed ICC last month, and I am still scared to try this one out, as I am not so good at sweets.. How I wish now I had been your neighbour! ;)

simplyfood said...

1st time here on your blog, your halwa looks delicious.

Sree vidya said...

Thanks all!
@ Rohini : You, my neighbour! that seems exciting. How I wish it becomes true! It was actually very easy to make, dear. You must give it a shot.
@Kitchen Queen: You are welcome, anytime!
@Lata: true

Srikitchen said...

wow! that's look delicious!

join with us in the efm- mutton series going here(http://www.srishkitchen.com/2009/12/efm-mutton-series.html) and the deadline for the event is feb.15th

Anonymous said...

all well? dint see any posts for a while.

Perspectivemedley said...

Nice one!!.. tempting.. mmm.. I would like to share some awards with you please accept it from my blog:):)

priya said...

hi dear,

There is an award waiting for u in my blog. Please accept it!!

Srividhya Ravikumar said...

wow... first time here and halwa looks delicious... following you

Anonymous said...

hello... hapi blogging... have a nice day! just visiting here....

Jayanthy Kumaran said...

Hy Vidya,

Moongdal halwa looks n sounds heavenly. First time here. Great collection of healthy recipes you have. Happy to follow u. Do drop in at my blog sometime.

Anonymous said...

Hey Vidya - I use your recipes regularly :) What's up, you've been MIA for a while now!?

Sree vidya said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sree vidya said...


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GayathriRaj said...

Hey thats a nice collection..im just gng thru ur blog and all the recipesa re too good...please do drop by my blog if time permits....
the halwa is awesome and nice colour too...

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