It is the lockdown situation, which means we are all craving for good food, and those of us who are away from home are reminiscing mom-made food. I love my mom’s and granny’s aata halwa, and honestly missing it.
When it comes to Indian desserts, its hard to replicate many of them in vegan form. For example, vegan rasgulla – I am yet to get my hands on one of those. But thankfully, halwas can be easily veganised and if cooked properly, with right ingredients, they taste like the real deal.
The trick to making a good vegan wheat halwa is to ensure you add good amount of saffron and cardamom for flavor. This will overpower the smell of oil and give you the authentic taste.
I always ground the saffron in a mortar and pestle with hot water first, to release its flavor, before adding to the halwa. It makes all the difference.
Another thing is, use the oil that has more neutral flavor and freshly extracted is better. We have an oil extraction machine at home, so I use the cold-pressed sesame or grountnut oil for my halwa and regular cooking too.
This is a very simple recipe but with the right amount of roasting, it tastes really delicious. I don’t like the halwa to be too dark, and I roast it relatively less than normally what people do. But you can decide how strong flavor you like.
Aata Halwa is one of my favorite Indian desserts, so let’s make it. Scroll down for the full recipe.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup whole wheat flour (ata)
- 2 tbsp cold pressed sesame oil (or oil of your choice)
- 3/4 cup coconut sugar (or as required)
- 2 cups hot water
- 2 cardamoms, powdered
- 7 strands of saffron, crushed properly in hot water
METHOD
- Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan.
- Add whole wheat flour when oil is hot and start roasting it on a medium flame, stirring continuously
- Roast the wheat till its color changes and you get the aroma of roasted whole wheat flour. It will take about 15-20 min
- Keep on stirring the flour to ensure even browning.
- The atta or whole wheat flour should turn golden and give a good fragrance.
- Add hot water
- Be careful as the mixture has the tendency to splutter. Continue to stir with all your hand force, so that no lumps are formed.
- The halwa will absorb water and continue to thicken quickly.
- At this stage add sugar and stir well
- Keep on stirring. So that lumps are not formed.
- Now is a good time to add saffron and stir
- When wheat halwa is semi thick switch off the flame
- Add ground cardamom, stir and serve warm
Serves: 2
Cook time: 20 minutes
Difficulty: 3/10
Vegan
Cook time: 20 minutes
Difficulty: 3/10
Vegan
