Corn Flour Halwa / Karachi Halwa

I love sweets and halwa is not an exception. I used to buy halwa from shops but occasionally I do prepare it at home. Halwa preparation involves lots of patience and you need to add a lot of ghee to make it tasty. Due to this reason I avoid making this at home. When Nalini of Nalini's kitchen posted this recipe in her blog, I bookmarked this halwa recipe as it uses only few tablespoons of ghee and it can also be prepared in a short period of time.

This corn flour halwa is also called as Karachi halwa. Traditional this halwa is available mostly in red, orange and yellow in colour. I have also seen green colored corn flour halwa. I have tried this recipe many times with many colours. Feel free to add any colour of your choice.

Basic Information:
Preparation Time: <5 minutes
Cooking Time: 20-30 minutes
Idle Time: 1 -2 hours
Serves: 6

Ingredients:

Corn flour - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1 and 1/2 cups
Water - 2 and 1/2 cups
Ghee - 3 tablespoons
Cashew nuts - 1/4 cups, roughly chopped
Cardamom powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Food colour - a big pinch or as required

Method:

1) In a frying pan, add 1/2 tablespoon of ghee and fry the roughly chopped cashew nuts. Transfer it to a plate and keep it aside.

2) Grease a wide, flat plate with 1/2 tablespoon of ghee and keep it aside.
3) In a mixing bowl, mix corn flour, food colour and 1 and 1/2 cup of water. Stir well till you don't see any lumps. Keep aside.

4) In a heavy bottom pan or kadai, take sugar. Add a cup of water. Allow it to boil and wait till the sugar completely dissolves and become slightly thick. No need to check for any string consistency.
5) Now, stir the cornflour water mixture once before adding it to the sugar syrup. Stir continuously to avoid lumps while adding.

6) When you stirring, as an initial step of thickening, it forms a lumpy,glossy texture here and there. Keep on stirring it until it turns thick and changes in its colour.
7) When it turns thick, add remaining 2 tablespoons of ghee and continue stirring till the mixture becomes glossy. It would try to flow out from the sides of the pan.

8) Add cardamom powder and cashew nuts. Mix well for 2 minutes and then turn the flame off.
9) Transfer this to a ghee coated plate.

10) After 1 to 2 hours, cut it into slices and enjoy.

Notes:
1) Instead of cashews, you can add pumpkin seeds, cucumber seeds and almonds to this halwa.
2) Use any food colour of your choice. Traditional Karachi halwa are available mostly in red, yellow and orange colours.

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Experimented under: All,Cashewnuts,Cornflour,Indian,North Indian,Sugar,Sweets