Wheat halwa

Mallika Badrinath's cook books were presented to me by my mom during my initial marriage days. One of the many titles was -  200 Traditional sweets. Since my husband puts on weight easily, he follows a strict regime. Hence NO SWEETS are to be prepared. I usually end up buying Haldiram's Rasgulla every month with my monthly provisions and invariably when guests come visiting, they bring along some or the other Indian sweets.
This Diwali, I was inspired to make sweets at home and when my mother started talking about how well her mom used to make Wheat Halwa....I thought why not give it a try.
Out came my old books. But the recipe was complicated. It involved soaking wheat overnight (10 hrs), grinding it in a wet grinder, removing and sieving milk, allowing it to settle for 10 hours and then proceeding with the halwa making process.
The very next page had the recipe of Bombay halwa using Maida or Refined flour. Bombay halwa was made with maida kneaded into a dough, which is then soaked in water and later sieved. Time process was 3-4 hours only.
Anyway I was making a sweet, why not make something 'healthy' (?!!)
I mixed the recipes up and saved myself 15 hours.

Ingredients:
Wheat flour - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 1/2 cup
Lemon juice - 1 tsp
Ghee / clarified butter - 1 cup + some for greasing vessel
Food colour of your choice- 1 pinch ( I used red - orange)
Broken cashewnut / dry fruits - 1 tbsp
Cardamom powder (optional) -2 pinches (I did not use this)

Knead the wheat flour into a smooth dough.
Pour about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of water over the kneaded dough and let it rest for 1/2 an hour.

After 1/2 an hour, mix the dough gently into the water.

You might have to add more water when you sieve, do add as much as you need.

* I used a muslin cloth placed over the sieve the first time around. (These photos were taken then)

But by the second time I made this halwa, I realized that using your smallest sieve is all that is necessary.

So skip the muslin cloth. Not necessary.

Keep this vessel aside covered and without any disturbance for 3-4 hours.
Clear water will rise to the top. Decant this water and throw it away.

If you shake the vessel a lot, the mixture will become murky.

Start boiling the sugar with 1/2 cup of water in a thick bottomed vessel.

The sugar syrup must reach 1 string consistency.

Dilute the wheat milk sediments with a little water and add in the food colour.

Add the lime juice to the sugar syrup.

Next goes in the diluted coloured sediments. Reduce flame and NEVER stop stirring.

The mixture will become shiny and transparent.

Start adding melted ghee in batches. First 1/3rd cup, mix well so that it gets absorbed. Then the next 1/3rd cup, mix again. Now cook for 5 minutes stirring constantly, till the mixture thickens further. Add in the rest of the ghee and cook till ghee floats on top.

Another way of checking is by pouring a bit of the halwa on your cool counter top.

If you feel that the mixture is set, then you are done.Otherwise cook and stir for some more time.

Mix in the cashewnuts / dry fruits and cardamom powder.

Pour this onto a square greased tin.

Cool and cut into pieces. 

Ever wondered how the original Halwa made by our grandmothers with jaggery and wheat flour looked?

Looks unappetizing without the glossy colour, but quite healthy as it has no refined sugar.

Recipe is the same , just substitute the sugar with jaggery. Do not forget to melt it and sieve it. We want no grime or stone in our halwa!