BeetRoot Halva or Beetroot Halwa

My today’s recipe pick is Beetroot Halwa Recipe. Why so unusual? Continue reading to know.. (LoL)

I just love our tradition of celebrating all major festivals from each and every religion. Christmas and New Year were celebrated few days back and Makar Shankrati is already knocking the door. We just had enough cakes and cookies to celebrate Christmas and New Year and now it is the time to enjoy various pithe-puli.

But sometimes this overwhelming celebrations make us a bit tired and we don’t get much time to try other kind of foods. In other words we need teeny weeny break to enjoy the celebrations completely because festivals are meant to be celebrated joyfully. Happiness should be absorbed to the core.

To give my appetite a festival free treat I decided to move to some traditional savory items last week and relished Mochar Chop, Kolkata Style Mutton Biryani and Chicken Chaap or Chicken Chanp. Then another savory item!!! Doesn’t it sound like ‘anti-bong’. Yes again I’m in search of a good dessert and it has to be non-festive; has to be something refreshing and new. What else you can expect from a hard core bong!!! It is said that we can gulp our deepest sadness with a bowl of great dessert.

Initially I thought about Gajar Ka Halva or Halwa. My mother always makes this delectable north Indian dessert each year during winter. Then my second thought was it might be an amazingly refreshing dessert but it has nothing new in it. Even in the current season I believe every dessert lover has already cooked and shared it. So I opted for Beetroot Halwa. I know even it has nothing new in it, but it was new in my kitchen and its rich red color is definitely very refreshing.

Ingredients:

Beetroot: 5, medium

Sugar: 1½ cups

Milk: 1/3 cup

Khoya: 200g

Whole green cardamom: 5-6

Green cardamom powder: 1 tbsp

Dry fruits (pistachio, cashew, raisins): 1/3 cup

Ghee/clarified butter: ¼ cup or 5 tbsp + 1 tbsp

Pistachio slivers: 1 tbsp (for garnishing)

Saffron strands: ½ tsp (for garnishing)

Preparation:

Wash and clean beetroot. Peel the skin off and grate the beets. You can also use blender and smash the beets. But I personally don’t like the smooth texture in halwa. Rather I love the uneven texture and small portions of beet in between my teeth while I’m enjoying my beetroot halwa. So I prefer to grate them.

Take a large heavy bottomed pan. Heat the ghee in it on medium flame.

Crush the whole cardamom and add into the hot ghee.

Add grated beet into the pan and stir well to coat the beet.

Once there is no raw smell of beet increase the flame a bit and add sugar. Mix well so that sugar gets dissolved quickly.

Add milk and turn the flame to medium low.

When the beet becomes soft enough and thoroughly cooked increase the flame and add khoya. I prepared the khoya at home. You may either prepare it following homemade khoya recipe or buy it from outside. Smash the khoya with the spatula and mix well with the beet. Don’t stop stirring otherwise the halwa will stick at the bottom.

Add dry fruits. Run the taste test and adjust the sweetness according to your taste.

Sprinkle cardamom powder and reserved 1 tbsp of ghee on the top and mix very gently.

Turn off the flame and transfer immediately to the serving bowls.

Garnish with pistachio slivers.

This dessert can be served as hot and cold both. Serve hot with fresh kheer or rabri. And while serving it cold, refrigerate it for at least 1 hr (Don’t freeze). Remove 15 mins before serving. Vanilla or any other ice cream can be served with it.