Mung Dal Halwa- instant version

I had been wanting to make mug halwa and as it happened, I can across the version of making halwa using dry dal instead of the presoaked one. Well, we had just had dinner and I felt like eating some dessert and decided to make it as it promised to be quick, and it was. And the family liked it so much that I doubled the ingredients and made it again. I made some changed when I doubled the recipe, so I will give both variations below.

Ingredients 
Without milk- half quantity
1/2 cup moong dal, coarsely powdered
1/2 cup jaggery finely cut.
1/4 cup sugar (It wasn't sweet enough with only jaggery, so I added 1/4 cup of sugar after the halwa was cooked. It melted and made the halwa a little fluid, so I cooked it further till I got the appropriate consistency)
3 tbsp ghee - roasted the mung flour in 2 tbsp of ghee and added 1 tbsp after halwa was cooked
1.5 cups water at room temperature
nuts roasted in ghee for garnish - optional

With milk- half, after doubling mung quantity
1 cup moong dal, coarsely powdered
3/4 cup sugar
6 tbsp ghee - roasted the mung flour in 4 tbsp of ghee and added 2 tbsp after halwa was cooked
1 cup water
1 cup milk warmed for 30 seconds in microwave
nuts roasted in ghee for garnish - optional

Method
Measure out the dal, and then pluse it in the blender till coarsely ground. Heat ghee and dal in a pan and roast it on medium low heat till the color deepens and the dal smells fragrant.  It will take a good 10-15 minutes. Roast dal on low heat if possible, as once it starts to change color it will burn easily. Keep on stirring. Next add sugar or jaggery and stir and let it start to melt for a minute or so . Now add water or the water and milk mixture and stir well. The dal will cook in the liquid and initially look like kheer. It will thicken slowly as the dal absorbs the water. Cook it and keep stirring
Till alll the water is absorbed and thicken it to the texture you prefer. It can be soft or a little dry. Add additional ghee and mix and turn off the heat. Garnish with nuts if using. You can also add cardamom powder. Serve warm.

Tips
I used hot water and warm milk when I made it the second time. It caused the halwa to splatter everywhere and was dangerous. Use room temperature water and milk to avoid this splattering. Adding some ghee during the roasting and topping off with more ghee after cooking allows you to cook the halwa in minimal ghee. You can always use more ghee. 

Gulkand Sheera/Halwa - Rose flavored cream of wheat pudding

Sheera or halwa made with rava/semolina/cream of wheat is possibly the most popular sweet dish in India. Every household makes it and it is made as dessert of even as a breakfast dish. It is made as a sweet to celebrate special occasions. And many a times when someone shares good news, this is made on the spur of the moment to celebrate the news. You can add pineapple or another fruit to it to flavor it. If you want to make it rich, substitute half of the water with whole milk and increase the amount of clarified butter/ghee. Then add roasted slivered almonds and cashews to it to transform it into the most decadent dessert ever. You can find the orange colored version of it in many Indian restaurant buffets and it is called "kesari". Kesari is the color that you get when you add "kesar" aka saffron to the dish. In restaurants it is usually a food color that is added, but at home you can add a pinch of saffron to give it a royal feel. A versatile dessert called by many different names and everyone has a favorite version.

This time around,  I decided to give it a twist and make it rose flavored by adding a home made rose preserve that I made using the roses from my garden. The dessert had a lovely fragrance and a delicate rose flavor.

Ingredients 
1 cup rava/semolina/cream of wheat
3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp of sugar
1/3 cup ghee
2 tbsp gulkand
2 cups water
2 tsp rose water
1/4 tsp cardamom powder
2 tbsp raisins
Rose petals for decoration

Method 
I am giving three different methods of cooking this.

Method 1
Roast the semolina/rava/cream of wheat till fragrant on medium heat in a dry pan. It should be lightly browned and at this point it will have a nutty roasted fragrance. In a deep saucepan, mix together the water, sugar. Cover and let it come to a boil. As soon as it starts boiling, add the roasted semolina into the water and stir well. And after a minute, turn off the heat. Cover the saucepan for 15 mins with a well fitting lid, letting it cook in the heat of the water. Then open the lid, add the ghee, cardamom powder, gulkand, raisins and mix them all in thoroughly and cover for 5 more minutes.  Once it is luke warm, stir in the rose water.

Method 2
Heat butter or ghee in a pan. Once hot, add the semolina/rava/cream of wheat and roast it till light brown and when you can smell the nutty flavor. Keep aside. Then mix together the water and sugar in a deep saucepan and let it come to a boil. Once it starts boiling, add the roasted semolina/rava/cream of wheat and stir well, let it cook for a minute and turn off the heat. Cover with a lid and let it cook in the heat for 15 minutes. Then open the lid, and add the cardamom powder, raisins, gulkand and mix them in thoroughly and cover it for another 5 minutes. Once luke warm, stir in the rose water.

Method 3
Heat butter or ghee in a deep pan. Once hot, add the semolina/rava/cream of wheat and roast it till light brown and when you can smell the nutty flavor. At the same time, heat the water, and bring it to a boil. Once the rava is roasted, pour the water onto the rava and mix it well. It will splatter a lot and this is the messiest of the three methods. Turn the heat to a low when pouring the water to minimize the splatter. Then stir it and cover it and let it cook on low heat for a few minutes till it fluffs up, stirring nad covering a couple of times. Then once it is cooked and fluffy, add the sugar and mix. It will dissolve and make the resultant mixture a little fluid. Keep cooking it till you get a drier texture. Then as it finished cooking add the cardamom powder, raisins, gulkand and mix them in thoroughly. Take it off the heat and cover it for 5 minutes and let it rest. Once luke warm, stir in the rose water.

The resultant sheera/pudding does not have an overpowering rose taste but a mild fragrant  rose flavor. You can serve this warm or at room temperature.

Here are the recipes to make ghee at home and gulkand at home using your garden roses.
Ghee/Clarified Butter
Gulkand/Rose Preserve

Tips
You can decrease or increase the amount of gulkand based on your taste Keep stirring the semolina/rava/cream of wheat  when roasting it, so that it doesn't burn. Once it starts to brown, reduce the heat a little else it is easy to burn it. You can buy the rose preserve, also called gulkand in the local store that sells Indian/Asian foods. You can also make it at home (see the link above). You may also find rose jam which you can also use. If you are unable to find the gulkand, substitute it with the same amount of sugar. And increase the rose water to 4 tsps.

Papaya Halwa/ Papaya Pudding

The first and only time I had papaya halwa was when I was probably 5 or 6 years old. And I still remember the beautiful golden color of the preparation. In fact, some of my food memories are so strong that I try to recreate the recipe by remembering the various flavors that I experienced while eating it. Well, for this recipe I didn't have to take that effort, but just picked up the phone and called mom. That took us down memory lane. My mom reminded me that we had planted several, almost six or eight papaya trees in the garden. And we used to get a lot of fruit.  There was a school nearby and young kids used to pick papayas from the trees on their way home and at other times a group of monkeys used to come and pick the delicious produce. Of course the most delicious ones would be the ones pecked by the birds. There was plenty of fruit for everyone. My mom used to make another preparation using raw papayas which she grated and it was a cumin flavored spicy version. That is a recipe for another post, but lets get on with this one.

For papaya halwa, you need a semi-ripe papaya. It should be a firm papaya, with light golden color on the skin and when it is cut open, it should be yellow in color and not white. A raw papaya with green skin and white flesh will not work. Neither will a completely soft, sweet papaya which is ready to cut and eat work. It must be semi-ripe. So choose carefully. The result has a gorgeous golden color and a delicious taste and it can be cooked to a firmer texture and cut into pieces or left soft and eaten with a spoon. I made this in the pressure cooker and hence was able to cook it in minimal ghee and sugar. A  more traditional method of cooking in the open pan will require a little more ghee.

Ingredients
1 semi-ripe papaya,  yellow in color but extremely firm, grated (measure this). I had 4 cups of grated papaya
2 cups (Half the volume of the grated raw papaya), fresh or frozen finely grated coconut
3-4 tbsp (1/4 cup)  cup ghee/clarified butter (you will need at least 1/2 cup if cooked via traditional method)
1/8 tsp cardamom
1/8 cup raisins - soak this in a little water (optional - I did not add)
sliced almonds/ cashews (optional - I did not add)
1/4-1/2 cup of water
2 cups sugar (to taste, if needed add more)

Method
Peel and deseed and clean the center of the papaya. Then grate it and measure the grated papaya. Then measure out fresh grated coconut. It should be half in volume compared to the papaya.

Instant Pot
In the Instant Pot liner, add 1/4 cup water and 1 tbsp of ghee. Then add half the grated papaya to cover the entire base of the cooker. Then spread a tbsp of ghee on top of this layer. Then add the rest of the grated papay in a layer and spread a tbsp of ghee on top of this layer. Add another 1/4 cup of water. Then add the grated coconut on top of the papaya layer. Then close the lid with vent sealed. Cook on manual mode for 8 mins. Then let it stay in warm mode for 2-3 minutes and then release the pressure. Check if the papaya is cooked. If not, cook it for a couple minutes more till the papaya is softened. If needed, add a little more water to build up pressure. 

Once the papaya is softened, stir the mixtures a little to displace the layer touching the base (so that it doesn't burn) and then add the sugar in a layer on top of the papaya coconut mixture. Again close the lid and cook it on manual mode for 2-3 minutes. Let it stay in warm mode for 5 minutes and then release the pressure and open the cooker. Add the cardamom powder and if using add the slices of almonds and raisins. Mix it well and then switch to saute mode. Cook, stirring occasionally till the water has evaporated and it has reached a pudding like consistency. It will take a few minutes. Add a tbsp of ghee at the end and mix it well to give a rich taste. 

Stovetop Pressure Cooker
You can use the same method in the stove top pressure cooker. Make sure to keep an eye on the time and the whistles to make sure that the papaya doesn't burn. Serve warm or cold.

Traditional method

Add ghee to a large saucepan, which can hold all the ingredients. You will need to add at least 1/2 cup of ghee instead of 1/4 tbsp to make sure that the papaya doesn't get stuck. Add the papaya to the ghee and cook it, covering the pan to trap the steam and stir occasionally till the papaya is softened. Then add the grated coconut and the sugar. Stir it and mix well. The sugar will melt and form a syrup. Keep stirring the mixture till it starts to thicken. Add the cardamom powder, raisins and almonds and stir. Cook till you have the desired consistency.  This method may also need a little more sugar. Taste it and adjust the amount of sugar.  

Tips

If you want, you can cook it further and thicken it. Then you can pour it into a greased plate, let it cool and cut it into pieces. The semi-raw papaya doesn't have a very high water content, so when cooking it in the pressure cooker or Instant Pot make sure to add adequate liquid to build up the pressure. 

Bottle Gourd/ Dudhi Halwa/ Lauki Halwa - Instant Pot version

I got my Instant Pot a couple of years ago and use it on a daily basis, but these days I have started using it to save time, reduce the amount of fat in the recipe and to do a lot of precooking which takes a lot of time the traditional way. I am starting a separate section of recipes that can be cooked in the pressure cooker to reduce the amount of time needed to spend on the recipe. I will keep updating the techniques as I experiment and find more shortcuts.

One of the recipes that takes a lot of time on the stove top is bottle gourd/dudhi/lauki halwa. Since this is a very water vegetable, it takes a  lot of sauteing to get it cooked and the water evaporated. This method also requires more ghee to sautee it to get a nice cooked flavor before you can add milk to it. If the ghee is less or if the lauki is not well cooked, the halwa may not turn out that tasty. The 30-40 minutes traditional cooking (on low heat to avoid burning) and monitoring is reduced to about 15 minutes hands free process when using the pressure cooker. 

For reference: Here is link to the traditional Dudhi halwa recipe.

Ingredients
2 dudhi/lauki/bottle gourd (had about 3.75 cups), peeled and grated 
1/2 cup liquid from the dudhi/lauki
4 tbsp (1/4 cup)  cup ghee/clarified butter
1.5 cups whole milk
1/8 tsp cardamom
1/8 cup raisins - soak this in a little water
sliced almonds/ cashews 
1 cup sugar (to taste)
Ricotta cheese/ khava - optional

Method
Peel and grate the lauki/dudhi. Keep it aside for 10 mins. It will release a lot of water. Place this grated gourd in a large sieve and drain the grated dudhi and press it to make it a little dry. It doesn't need to be squeezed dry. The intent is to reduce the liquid so that there will be less to evaporate later. Save the liquid. 
In the Instant Pot liner, add 1/4 cup of the saved dudhi liquid and 1/4 tbsp of ghee. Then add a layer of half of the grated dudhi. Then spread a tbsp of ghee on top of this layer. Then add the rest of the grated dudhi in a layer and spread a tbsp of ghee on top of this layer. Add another 1/4 cup of liquid and then close the lid with vent sealed. Cook on manual mode for 5 mins. Then let it stay in warm mode for 2-3 minutes and then release the pressure. Stir it well. The layer touching the bottom may be lightly browned. It will also release some liquid. At this stage if the dudhi is not cooked (it may need more time if it is old) then put it back on manual for a couple more minutes.

Now, switch to the saute mode and let the water evaporate, stirring occasionally so that it doesn't get caught at the bottom and start browning. Then add the milk and stir and cook the dudhi in it, till it evaporates. The milk curdles a bit and the solids are left behind to give a rich mava/khoya flavor. Add mava/khoya if using at this stage. If using ricotta cheese, add it before adding the milk and cook it a little. Then add the sugar. It will melt making the mixture liquid again. Again cook this till the water evaporates. 
Add the last tbsp ghee to give it a rich flavor. Then add the cardamom, raisin and almonds and stir. The halwa is cooked. I prefer to let it cook further so that it caramelizes as I like this flavor better. To do that keep cooking it till it starts to get golden brown. Serve warm or cold.

Tips
You need not squeeze out the liquid, but if you don't then it takes much longer to cook the water out before adding the milk. 

Beet Root Halwa - Beet Root Pudding

I have eaten beet roots in a variety of preparations in both the raw and cooked form, including cooked curries, salads and raitas. However, I had never tasted a sweet made from beet root. A few weeks ago, I had gone to a local Indian restaurant and I got a serving of sweet with my order. It was something I had never eaten before. It had a dark purple, blackish color, and it looked like the main ingredient had been grated. I hesitated a little before tasting it and I am quite glad that I did, because it turned out to be delicious. It was sweet and had a caramelized taste. Unfortunately, I never did get a chance to ask the server what it was made of or what it was called. I kept pondering over this dish the entire evening and finally came to the conclusion that it was probably made from beet root. Well, luckily for me, I had a couple of beet roots in my refrigerator and I was able to carry out my experiment the very next day. And the conclusion was that the sweet I had was beet root halwa indeed and it is one of the most delicious ways to use beet root.

Ingredients
2 large beet roots, peeled and grated
2 tbsp  ghee/clarified butter
2 tbsp mava/khoa/khoya (optional)
1/4 cup roasted cashewnuts (optional)
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
4-5 tbsp sugar, adjust to taste
1 tbsp raisins

Method
In a pan, heat the ghee. To this add the grated beet root and stir. Cover the pan. Let the beet root cook completely till softened. Stir occasionally to ensure that the beet root is not sticking to the bottom of the pan. Then add the mava (you can skip this), cardamom powder, raisins and sugar. The sugar will melt and the mixture will turn liquidy. Now, cook the mixture till the mixture solidifies. You can cook a little longer to let the sugar caramelize a little. Make sure that the halwa doesn't burn. Add cashews and serve warm. A healthy and tasty dessert which is fast to cook as well.

Tips
This is a faster cooking halwa compared to ones made carrots. Also, you can add some powdered milk instead of the mava to give it a creamy texture. I did not try adding milk or cream, and it wasn't needed either. To roast the cashews, in a pan, add a little ghee. Once heated, add the cahews and stir them, till they are a lightly browned. You can add more or lesser sugar based on how sweet the beet roots are as well as how many raisins are being added.