Glossy, Buttery, Divine: A Recipe for Beetroot Halwa

After years of low rainfall and water restrictions, we are having regular rains this year. You have no idea how delicious it is to smell the rain each morning and snuggle up in a warm bed as it rains outside. I never thought that I would enjoy rain so much.

It has been a quiet year in some respects, but busy and productive in others. While some around me are ruing the difficult economic times, and others are really feeling the pinch, I have been loving the more relaxed working style that you can adopt when there is much less pressure.

When work and its demands are not consuming all of my mental bandwidth , I find more time for refection, for health, for growth, for doing those things that I love. So it has been a great year, even if the bank balance is not as happy as in previous years.

One of the things that I have been doing lately and loving is having a real focus on walking 10,000 steps per day. This means that I am often to be seen in the evenings, striding out a fast 4,000 or so steps to make my total for the day. I am loving it because I feel much better for it, and am finding parts of my city that I never knew existed.

Today, in celebration of Sunday, I made a wonderfully vibrant Beetroot Halva. Easy and delicious, but don’t wear white or your Sunday best clothes while making it.  The beetroot needs to be grated – I used my mandoline which made it very easy. The recipe uses one very large beetroot or 2 or 3 smaller ones to make 2 cups of grated beetroot.

The recipe comes from the wonderful Cookery Corner, and I played with it a little. Halwas are very sweet, so they are meant to be eaten in small servings. This one would be good on its own or with some cream or plain icecream. Also, it would be fabulous on thick Turkish toast, or stirred through a plate of porridge.

Beetroot Halwa

Source : inspired by Cookery Corner
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 45 mins
Serves: 2-3 people, depending how you use it

ingredients
2 cups grated beetroot (peel the beetroot before grating)
2 Tblspn ghee
2 cups milk
2/3 cup of jaggery (grate the jaggery if using a block )
1 – 2 tspn cardamom powder (depending on taste)
8 unsalted cashews

method

Using 1 Tblspn of ghee, sauté the grated beetroot until it softens and absorbs the ghee. This takes around 6 or 7 minutes.

Add the milk, stir and cook for around 30 minutes until the milk has  mostly evaporated. Stir occasionally. The mixture will still be quite moist but without a lot of liquid left.

While it is cooking, melt a little of the ghee in a pan and sauté the nuts until golden but not burnt.

Add the sugar and the remaining ghee, and stir until they melt and the halwa thickens slightly. Stir in the cardamom.

Garnish with the cashews. Best served while warm.

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