Badam/ Almond Cake / Halwa

Badam Halwa:

I am sure most of us aware of the nutrional value of Almonds. Almonds are loaded with protien, Calcium, Magnesium, and Pottassium. Halwa is a rich comforting dessert and is popular in lot of cultures around the globe. There are different kinds of halwa's.. Carrot, Wheat, Semolina, Nuts Etc.. Some with milk, some with condensed milk etc. Particularly I love badam Halwa for its richness and its divine taste.

Ingredients:

-3 cups of Badam

-Add milk to cover it

-4 tablespoon ghee

-3 cups sugar

-Saffron

-Food color

- 2- 3 Cadamom

Proceedure:

1. Soak the badam in water for about 2-3 hours and peel the skin. Alternatively, drop the Badam in boiling water for about 30 mins and peel the skin. Or buy the blanched badam's - they work great too.

2. In a blender, add the Badam's and add milk just to cover it. Run the blender to grind it into a coase paste.

3. Heat 2 tablespoons of ghee in a nonstick pan and add the badam mixture to it. Start stirring the mixure. Add sugar to this mixture. Now it should be a quite liquidy mixture. Keep stirring. After a while you would begin to notice that the mixure is cooking. Continue to stir without taking your hands of the laddle.

4. Add some saffron bits, food color and cardomam and continue to stir. The key here is to not to burn the mixture. It is very easy to get this burned. So continue stirring and you will see the mixture begining to thicken. Stir Stir and Stir for abt 30 mins totally. Add 2 tablespoon ghee to make sure that the halwa is not sticking to the pan.

5. When the halwa is not sticking to the pan and you see it is just about easy to take it off the pan, that is when you know your halwa is ready. Transfer it into a plate/ tray. Halwa begins to solidify when it is cooling. So when you see it is still in a semi - solid stage take it out and transfer it. I cooked it a lil more and it became a cake, but if you want it in halwa consistency transfer it when it just is in semi- solid stage.

This is the best sweet I have ever eaten . Enjoy!