Moong Dal Halwa from Besan/No Moong Dal no Soaking No Grinding
Quick version of traditional moong dal halwa made with besan. There is no soaking and grinding of the dal, making it faster and easier than the traditional recipe without compromising on taste or texture.
Equipment
- 1 saucepan
- 1 nonstick pan/kadhai/wok
- 1 spatula
Ingredients
- 2 cups laddoo/jada/mota besan /granular gramflour
- 2 cup sugar
- 2 cup water
- 1.5 cup ghee/3 stick unsalted butter
- 2 cup milk i used 2%
- 1/2 tsp Green cardamom powder/elaichi powder
- 1 pinch saffron
Instructions
- Heat water, add sugar and cardamom powder Bring to a boil. Turn off heat and keep sugared water aside.
- Heat a pan, add butter/ghee and milk, bring to boil
- Turn of the stove and add the besan/gramflour
- Mix well and break up lumps
- Turn on the stove to medium low, cover the pan to steam cook besan/gramflour in its own moisture for 20 min. Stir every 3 to 4 minutes. This is a very important step, to cover and cook the besan. On induction, the temperature is 600 F
- Remove cover from pan, increase temperature to medium and roast the besan for 15 minutes. On induction, temperature is 800 F
- Add sugared water slowly to the pan, little at a time and stir continuously to avoid lumps, keep med to high heat. I put the sugared water 1/3 at a time. when hot gramflour meets water, it can splatter, so be careful
- Besan absorbs all the water/moisture in about 10 minutes and leaves sides of pan. You will see the fat separate from the besan.
- Turn off heat, sprinkle chopped nuts and keep covered for 5 minutes. Can add additional saffron at this time
- Mix well and serve hot
- Store in fridge and heat before serving. Tastes best when its hot. Can be microwaved.
Notes
For best results use laddo /mota besan
I have tried with unsalted butter and ghee, both taste good. Butter is more readily available and I didn't find any major difference in taste, so my preference is to use unsalted butter. I made first with 2 sticks per cup of besan, felt it had too much fat. tried the same recipe with 1 stick of butter, taste was good. It was little difficult to stir and no fat separates towards the end. But its possible to make it lower in fat by using one stick of butter. The ideal midway point was to use 1.5 sticks or 3/4 cup ghee per 1 cup besan. This way there was enough butter/ghee to cook the besan, fat separates in the end, giving us the hint that the halwa is ready.
Just bring water and sugar to one boil, no string chashni is needed
Boil ghee and milk. Turn off heat before adding besan to the pan to avoid lumps
Milk works to steam cook besan so it becomes soft, light and fluffy
Butter/ghee helps to roast the soft besan, which gives us the texture ,taste and color of dal halwa
Just bring water and sugar to one boil, no string chashni is needed
Boil ghee and milk. Turn off heat before adding besan to the pan to avoid lumps
Milk works to steam cook besan so it becomes soft, light and fluffy
Butter/ghee helps to roast the soft besan, which gives us the texture ,taste and color of dal halwa
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!