Wheat Halwa | Tirunelveli Alva | Godhumai Halwa
Wheat Halwa is a silky melt in mouth sweet made by simmering& stirring wheat milk with ghee, caramelized sugar & cashews. Tirunelveli Alva is a famous Wheat Halwa & the method of making it is prescribed here. Wheat Halwa is worth the effort & time for its taste.
Servings3 people
Ingredients
Method 1 - Traditional method
- 1/4 cup samba gothumai | samba wheat
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup minus 2 tablespoon ghee
- 5 nos cashews broken
- 1 tablespoon oil
For Caramelising Sugar:
- 1 tablespoon ghee
- 1 tablespoon sugar
Method 2 - Easy Method
- 1/2 cup wheat flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 and 1/4 cups ghee plus 2 to 3 teaspoon extra
- 1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder
- 1 tablespoon cashewnuts
- 1 cup warm water + 1/4 cup water
- a pinch orange color
Instructions
Method 1 :
- Measure and take samba wheat add water till immersing level. Soak it overnight or at least for 8hrs. Drain the water then add 1/2 cup water and transfer to mixer jar.
- Grind it smoothly, then transfer it to a strainer.
- Filter it, keep mixing and pressing it with a spoon to extract milk completely.
- Grind it again with 1/4 cup water to take second milk.
- Transfer the extracted milk to a bowl and keep it undisturbed for at least 15mins. Now get ready with a heavy bottomed pan.
- You can see the clear water on top, drain little of it but not fully, set aside.
- Heat a tablespoon of ghee in the heavy bottomed pan.
- Add the extracted wheat milk and keep stirring to avoid lumps. In few mins it will reach porridge consistency (it will coat the ladle).
- At this stage add sugar, keep mixing it will again turn gooey. Keep mixing.
- In another small kadai heat a tablespoon of ghee, fry the broken cashews until golden brown, remove the cashews. Now in the same pan with remaining ghee...
- Add a tablespoon of sugar, keep mixing it in low flame. First it will change to light brown then crystallize.
- Keep stirring to get a reddish golden brown color.
- Now add this caramelized sugar to the halwa, keep mixing. It will form small crystals but keep mixing. Don't panic like me ;) after few mins it will get dissolved.
- I measured 1/2 cup of melted ghee and kept but did not use fully. Add a tablespoon of ghee in regular intervals, keep mixing.
- Add a tablespoon of ghee and keep stirring without leaving. Do this in low flame itself.
- It will nicely bubble up then slowly it will start to form a mass. Add ghee in intervals and keep stirring.
- See how it rolls, at this stage it will stop absorbing ghee and will let out ghee at the sides as you can see. Now stop adding ghee. The whole mixture will dance like a jelly in the pan without sticking to the pan because of the ghee.
- At this stage add fried cashews and mix well. The halwa will be glossy and dark in color, it will roll like a ball.
- You can slide the pan and collect the excess ghee with a spoon if you want.
- Serve Wheat Halwa hot / warm.
Method 2:
- Take wheat flour and add water little by little to form a stiff dough. Soak the dough in 1 cup of warm water at least for 5-7 hours - I soaked it overnight.
- Then mix the dough well with your hands till the dough is completely dissolved without any lumps.
- Then strain the milk using a strainer and discard the leftout scum. Leave the milk to rest for sometime....
- Next, discard the top most clear liquid, without disturbing the settled milk (this step is optional but helps in saving time to get the final halwa stage).
- Fry the cashews in ghee and set aside.
- Take a heavy bottomed pan (I used my nonstick pan). Boil sugar with 1/4 cup water until it reaches a single thread consistency.
- Then add the wheat flour milk.
- Keep stirring...once it reaches the porridge stage start adding ghee may be 2-3 tablespoon.
- Next it starts to look more transparent, add the food color and keep stirring.
- Add ghee and keep stirring it absorbs the ghee fast. More stirring and you will reach a consistency where it will come together as a whole mass.
- Keep stirring and add the remaining ghee....once it reaches halwa like consistency add the cashews, cardamom powder give a quick stir. Slowly it starts leaving ghee at the sides, try to roll a ball and it will easily form a ball this is the stage you should switch it off.
- Enjoy Wheat Halwa!
Notes
- If the extracted milk is very thick it will get thicken faster and will leave raw smell. So water content should be there so I just drained little of the clear water not fully.
- Once the sugar is caramelized add it immediately, it may form thick crystals but keep stirring it will dissolve by itself.
- It is tough to stir single handedly for an hour so if you are making in bulk, take a helping hand so that you can stir alternatively. If you are trying for the first time, just try for 1/2 or 1 cup so that you get to know the tactics of stirring.
- There is no consistency check just when ghee oozes out stop adding ghee and cook for few mins then switch off.
- Do not cook after ghee oozes out, else halwa will become hard very chewy.
For 1/4 cup of samba wheat it gave a good volume. - Make sure to use a heavy bottomed pan or kadai.
- Use good quality pure ghee for best flavor. Don't add ghee fully add it in intervals.
- You can even use half and half oil and ghee but the flavor will differ.
- You can even grease a tray and pour it and cut into pieces.
- You can keep it outside for 2 days after that refrigerate it. When refrigerated it will become slightly hard just heat it up while serving.
Nutrition Facts
Wheat Halwa | Tirunelveli Alva | Godhumai Halwa
Amount Per Serving (75 g)
Calories 796
Calories from Fat 567
% Daily Value*
Fat 63g97%
Saturated Fat 37g231%
Trans Fat 0.01g
Polyunsaturated Fat 3g
Monounsaturated Fat 19g
Cholesterol 153mg51%
Sodium 4mg0%
Potassium 30mg1%
Carbohydrates 61g20%
Fiber 0.4g2%
Sugar 52g58%
Protein 2g4%
Vitamin C 0.03mg0%
Calcium 5mg1%
Iron 1mg6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
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