Cashew Badam Halwa

How to make (quick & easy) Cashew Badam Halwa

    

             Although I did not have a sweet tooth during childhood, I have always been a sucker for milk sweets - Bengali sweets being my most favorite, followed by 'Thirattu Paal' and 'Paal Khoa'. When I moved to this country and felt deprived of my favorite sweets for a long long time and store-bought sweets weren't as good as the ones you get in India, I had to find a way to satisfy my craving. At first,  I added sugar to the unsweetened store-bought khoa to make 'Paal Khoa' and that was delicious by itself. After a few times, I decided to up my game by adding powdered nuts to this concoction and thus ended up with the 'Ultimate Paal Khoa'. Since then, I never went back to the regular Paal khoa. I had found my "soul-food"! The only drawback being, that this is super rich & will take a toll on your weight :o). To control my temptations, I only make it during Diwali season every year and, yes I do go overboard during Diwali time anyways... and end up blaming the festive season by calling it holiday weight gain.

           It takes only a few minutes to make this deliciously sweet halwa, but it tastes royal. I'm sorry, I'm raving so much about this halwa. My opinions might be biased as I love milk sweets, so why don't you try this easy peasy recipe this Deepavali to make your family & friends happy; that is if you have any leftovers to share ;o)

Ingredients:

2.5 cups/12 oz/350 Gms Unsweetened Khoa

2 Cups Sugar

1/2 Cup Cashew powder

1 Cup Badam

Milk - 1 Cup
a few strands of saffron

Stove-top method:

• Grate the Khoa with a peeler or chop it up into smaller pieces. Powder the raw nuts as desired.
•  Heat the milk with the Khoa. Once the Khoa blends with the milk, add the powdered nuts & sugar. Heat on low-medium & keep stirring until you reach halwa consistency. Top it with saffron strands & serve warm or cold.

Sharing my recipe with my friends at CCC #59 Oct Week 3. Do check out their latest Diwali recipes as well for more inspiration this season.