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jackiwolfe

LOOKING for: Halava

jackiwolfe
17 years ago

There are some Hare Krishnas who serve lunch on my college campus, and they serve a delicious dessert called Halava. The guy who served it to me said he thought it was made from semolina. Has anyone ever made this, did it turn out well, and do you have a good recipe? I have never really dabbled in ethic cooking!

Comment (1)

  • nuitjasmine
    17 years ago

    I'm no expert on 'Halava' but it sounds similar to the Persian version. I checked online and a few of the recipes are similar, (if it was a simple halava--there was one recipe for a 'Sultana's Halava' with lots of nuts and things.) The Persian Halva is very easy to make, and is difficult to mess up. You might like it. Hope this helps!

    Here is a recipe for Persian Halva that I found somewhere online a while ago:

    Persian Halva

    Syrup:
    1 cup water
    1 cup sugar
    1 tsp ground saffron dissolved in 1/4 cup hot water
    1/2 tsp ground cardamom

    Dough:
    2 cups sifted all purpose whole wheat flour
    1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, melted

    Garnish:
    2 TB ground pistachios

    1. boil water and sugar. Remove from heat, add saffron water, rose water and cardamom, mix well, set aside.

    2. In large, deep skillet, toast flour for about 10 minutes over high heat. stir constantly with wooden spoon. Add melted butter (or butter substitute), fry, mix constantly with wooden spoon for 10-15 minutes longer, until golden brown. DO NOT OVER OR UNDER-COOK FLOUR. Remove from heat.

    3. Gradually stir syrup into flour/butter, stir quickly, constantly with wooden spoon for 5 minutes.

    4. Spread onto flat plate, pack firmly with spoon, decorate with spoon patterns, sprinkle with pistachios. Cover and chill in refrigerator. Cut into small pieces.

    Again, whole wheat flour is delicious, but regular white flour can be used. Oil is o.k. instead of butter. Some use an extra 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup sugar with whole wheat flour.

    Then online I found this remarkably similar recipe for Halava, except it uses farina and lacks the aromatic additions:

    Halava

    Ingredients:

    1/2 c Ghee
    1/2 c Farina
    2 c Water
    1 c Sugar

    Directions:
    Melt the ghee very slowly & add the farina. Mix & cook over a low flame until it begins to brown. In the meantime, boil together the water & sugar. Add the toasted farina to the boiled water, turn oven off & cover. Let sit for a few minutes. Add nuts or fruit if you desire.

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