BADAM HALWA RECIPE- SOUTH INDIAN ALMOND HALWA-DIWALI SWEETS RECIPES

• Badam/Almonds – 1/2 cup (levelled)
• Milk – 1/2 cup ( to grind badam)
• Sugar – 1/2 cup
• Water – 1/4 cup (to melt sugar)
• Condensed milk – 2 tbsp
• Melted ghee – 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp ( needs 1/2 cup maximum) 
• Saffron threads – few
• Cardamom powder or badam essence – A pinch ( optional)
• Yellow food color – A big pinch

• To peel the skin of badam and to grind it thick using less milk, follow this procedure. Boil badam in water for 1-2 minutes. Leave it in hot water for 5 minutes and remove the skin. It will come off easily ELSE roll boil badam in hot water for a minute, drain the hot water and show the badam under running tap water. Skin will come off easily.
• For grinding badam, take badam in a suitable mixie jar and grind it coarsely to the maximum without adding milk or water. Wipe the sides & lid of jar and again grind it adding less milk.wipe and add little more milk. Grind it to a slightly grainy paste. Here I used nearly 1/2 cup of milk for 1/2 cup of peeled badam.Remove the paste in a bowl and set aside.Soak saffron in a tbsp of milk.Add food color to this milk and keep aside.

• In the mean time, in another burner, melt 1/2 cup of sugar using 1/4 cup of water. No need to bring any consistency. Just stir the sugar and melt it completely.Switch off

• In a good non-stick kadai, add 1 tbsp of ghee and after its heated, simmer the flame to low completely and add the badam paste. Mix well till ghee is absorbed completely. Badam paste will absorb all the ghee and thickens. Now add saffron ,food color mixed milk to the badam paste. Mix well.

• After the color is well distributed with the mixture, add the sugar water. Mix well. Add condensed milk.
  
• Mix till all the sugar is absorbed by badam and mixture turns liquid. Keep the flame low. Keep mixing else it will burn in the bottom very quickly. When the mixture starts to boil with bubbles,add 1/2 tbsp of ghee. Initially big bubbles will form in the center. The mixture may splutter, take care. Keep mixing with the ladle staying nearby. After 30 seconds, again add 1/2 tbsp of ghee and mix well. Ghee will be absorbed by halwa. Repeat this until you finish half of the ghee.

• All big bubbles will subside & Halwa will thicken leaving small air bubbles. Keep mixing in low flame. Again add 1/2 tbsp of ghee and halwa will start to leave the sides of pan. Do not switch off now. Keep adding 1/2 tbsp of ghee in regular interval and mix well.

• At one stage,say in 2 minutes, halwa will stop taking ghee & it will start to ooze out little ghee in the sides of pan.i.e. when you move the halwa all over the pan, you will see the kadai shining with ghee in the sides..U can find traces of ghee in the sides of non-stick pan. Switch off the flame now, add the remaining ghee and remove the halwa in a bowl.

• The thing is halwa should leave the sides of pan & oozes little ghee in the pan. Do not wait for more ghee to come out. Remove as soon as you see halwa turning glossy. No problem if the halwa is sticky because it will thicken after it cools down. Just remove & keep in a serving bowl. Leave it untouched for 2-3 hours until it cools down completely.
• Suppose if you keep mixing for long time after it starts to leave the ghee, halwa will become chewy after it cools down. So be careful. This halwa may not take all the 1/2 cup of ghee. It will take around 1/4 cup + 2-3 tbsp of ghee. Keep in mind, as soon as you see traces of ghee in the sides, remove it & switch off the flame. Add the remaining ghee on top of halwa if you wish.

Enjoy !

• Do the entire process only in low flame. Though it takes more time to cook in low flame,it will be safe. Beginners please follow this tip else halwa might burn in the bottom.
• Secondly keep stirring with the ladle without moving away. Stay nearby because the entire procedure gets over in 15 minutes based on the quantity you use.
• Lastly remove the halwa as soon as it starts to leave ghee in sides of pan.No problem even if the halwa is slightly sticky. It will set once it cools down. If you feel, it is very sticky even after cooling down, you can heat the halwa anytime adding few spoons of ghee and bring it to right consistency. But if you over do the mixing, it will become chewy after cooling down which you cannot troubleshoot.
• I din’t notice the time taken to reach the final stage. I will update it when I make it next time.
• Use mentioned quantity of ghee. If you want to reduce, halwa will turn sticky. At the same time, no need to use 1/2 cup of ghee. It takes 1-2 tbsp lesser. I have given a rough measure. It may vary.
• Color of halwa may vary slightly based on the quantity of saffron & food color you use.