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    Home » Desserts

    Published: Nov 15, 2014 · Modified: Oct 1, 2020 by Usha Rao

    Badam Halwa

    I am participating in Indian Cooking Challenge after a long break. For this month, we were challenged to cook a traditional sweet, badam halwa. It is a rich halwa loaded with ghee. I used unsalted butter. Almonds or badam are soaked overnight, peeled, ground to paste, cooked in ghee, sweetened with sugar and flavored with cardamom powder. I followed the recipe as given and felt I could have cut back a little on ghee. Mr.U thought it was a too sweet but it was fine for my sweet tooth.

    Almond Halwa.

    Servings: 1 – 1 ½

    Ingredients:

    • ¼ cup Almonds ~ Badam
    • 4 tbsp. Ghee (I used unsalted butter. Check note below)
    • 4 tbsp. Sugar or to taste
    • Pinch of Cardamom Powder
    • ¼ - ½ cup Water

    Preparation:

    • Soak almonds in water overnight. Peel, wash the almonds and grind to a fine paste. I forgot to soak almonds overnight and instead soaked in hot water for 2 hours in a covered pan. Then peeled the almonds, put them in freezer for 30 – 45 minutes and then ground to paste. This tip, to soak in hot water, freeze and then grind to paste was shared by Kalyani and it worked just perfect.
    • After peeling the almonds, grind them to fine paste using very little water. I used about 1 ½ - 2 tbsp. of water but if possible, use less water.
    • Heat ghee or unsalted butter in a nonstick pan and roast almond paste stirring it constantly until it is roasted and changes color. This will take about 10 minutes. I roasted it on medium to medium high flame for 3-4 minutes and then reduce the flame to medium low. If the paste burns reduce the flame to low and roast it stirring constantly.
    • Once the almond paste is roasted, gradually add water and bring it to halwa consistency.
    • Add cardamom powder, sugar and mix well. Halwa will become diluted as sugar melts.
    • Cook on low flame until halwa thickens and ghee/butter begins to float.

    Note:

    • Less ghee can be used. Ghee was floating on the halwa. Usually traditional sweets do tend have lot of ghee in it but I felt I could have cut back on ghee.

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    Reader Interactions

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    1. Pavani says

      November 17, 2014 at 11:17 am

      I loved making this badam hlawa. It was so rich and delicious. Love your traditional look to the picture with the props.

      Reply
    2. nayana says

      November 17, 2014 at 5:35 am

      Healthy halwa looks very yummy

      Reply
    3. Suja says

      November 16, 2014 at 2:55 pm

      Wow.. That's a nice presentation..

      Reply
    4. Suchitra says

      November 16, 2014 at 11:47 am

      Hi Usha, what the advantage behind soaking in hot water and freezing th e almonds? Btw pic looks excellent!!!!

      Reply
      • MySpicyKitchen says

        November 16, 2014 at 9:22 pm

        Soaking in warm water is a shortcut. I forgot to soak almonds the night before. Soaking in hot water speeds up the soaking. As for freezing, to be honest I do not know. I was told that if I soak in hot water to speed up the soaking, I also need to freeze it for sometime before grinding to get a nice almond paste. I just followed that tip.

        Reply
    5. Srivalli says

      November 15, 2014 at 10:26 pm

      The pictures are looking so divine Usha...so glad you joined us after so long..

      Reply
    6. kanchi says

      November 15, 2014 at 10:36 am

      Yummy

      Reply
    7. kurinji says

      November 15, 2014 at 2:58 am

      beautiful clicks and delicious halwa...

      Reply

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    Hi, I am Usha! Welcome to my space. I am the content creator and photographer here. I love cooking and all the recipes on the site are tried and tested in my kitchen.

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