Madhura Palaharangal

BLACK HALWA

Recipe for black halwa Ingredients: Raw rice: 250 Gms Jaggery: ½ kg Coconut: 1 Ghee: 250 Gms Powdered cardamom: 3-4 Cashew nuts: 50 Gms Nutmeg powder: a pinch Preparation: Grind wet rice by soaking about 2 hours and strain it out to make fine powder. Make jaggery syrup by adding 1 cup water and boil till the jaggery is completely dissolved. Strain the syrup into a bowl, using a strainer, to remove sediments. Make coconut milk from grated coconut. Add warm water to the grated coconut and just turn for a minute in a mixer. Then extract the first milk in a bowl keep aside. Add some more water and extract the second milk and third milk in the same way and extract as much milk as possible. Mix the second and the rest of the coconut milk. Heat 1 tbsp of ghee and fry cashew nuts in a non-stick pan until they turn brown. Remove from pan and keep aside. Method: Heat second and third coconut milk in a large vessel on fire. Then add the rice flour to the boiled milk and mix well without having any lumps. Now add the jaggery syrup and stir nicely. When it become slightly thick, add the ghee and stir for 2-3 minutes very well. Add the first coconut milk and continue stirring on a medium flame to cook well. Keep stirring until you can see that the halwa starts leaving the sides of the pan and the mixture begin rolling. Now add the cardamom and nutmug powder along with fried cashew nuts. After cooking 5 more minutes, switch off the flame. Now our Delicious black halwa is ready. After greasing a tray with little ghee(1 tbs) pour the halwa into the tray. Flatten it with a flat kind spoon and allow it to cool. Set aside for 30 minutes or so. Now cut the halwa into desired shapes(square preferable) and serve.