Moong dal halwa is an amazingly rich and decadent, royal Indian dessert, slow-cooked in milk and khoya, garnished with chopped nuts. The soft, crumbly texture of the coarse moong dal cooked in milk makes it so creamy, soulful, and yum!
Happy Vasant Panchami. Today being Vasant Panchami or Basant Panchami, I am sharing this recipe, which is yellow in color.
As it is said, ‘Spring is nature’s way of saying, Let’s Party!’. Spring just makes everything and everyone around joyous and happy 🙂 Vasant Panchmi holds even a more special significance for me – I was born the day before Vasant Panchmi and hence the day before Vasanth Panchami is my birthday per the Indian calendar, and hence, per my Mom, the phrase ‘आप आये बहार आयी” (meaning, ‘your arrival brought the Spring season’) holds true for me 🙂 as I was born right before Vasant Panchmi :).
Per wikipedia, The season and Indian festival also reflects the agricultural fields which are ripening with yellow flowers of mustard crop, which Hindus associate with Saraswati’s favorite color. People dress in outfits and accessories, share yellow colored snacks and sweets. Some add saffron to their rice then eat yellow cooked rice as a part of an elaborate feast.
And hence the yellow colored recipe post 🙂
This is my Mom’s recipe of Moong Dal Halwa. She makes it amazingly well. I made a few changes and added a few ingredients, but maintained the recipe more or less as she taught me. I ball parked the ingredients the first time I made the halwa, and it turned out absolutely amazing. Hence, this has become my go-to recipe of Moong Dal Halwa.
This is a gluten-free, egg-free Indian dessert recipe.
Moong Dal Halwa
Ingredients
- 1 cup Moong dal (split green gram)
- 3/4 – 1 cup Ghee (clarified butter) I used low fat milk
- 1 cup Sugar
- 3 1/2 cups Milk
- 4 tablespoons Khoya / Mawa
- 2 teaspoons Cardamom powder
- 1/2 – 1/2 teaspoon Saffron strands
- a pinch Yellow color (optional)
- 3-4 drops Rose water (optional)
Instructions
- Soak moong dal overnight or at least for 6 hours. Drain out all the water.
- Grind it to a coarse paste. You may use few teaspoons of water if needed for grinding. This water will be drained out later anyways.
- Put the ground moong dal on a muslin cloth and squeeze to drain out all the water. The drier the moong dal paste, the lesser time it will take to cook.
- In a heavy non-stick pan, add saffron strands, saute for a minute or so. Heat a tablespoon of milk. Crush the saffron strands between fingers and add it to this milk. Keep it aside.
- Heat the non-stick sauce pan on medium. Add ghee. I started with adding 3/4 cup of ghee and then later added some more. Once melted, add the moong dal paste. Saute on medium heat for about 15 minutes, continuously stirring so that it doesn’t get stuck on the pan or burn.
- Add milk, khoya, the soaked saffron strands along with milk, crushed cardamom powder. Keep stirring. Ghee will leave the sides of the pan. Satue for about 20 minutes.
- Add sugar. Mix. If adding color, you may add it at this point. Cover the pan for about 3 minutes. Uncover the pan and saute for about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat.
- Remove the halwa on a plate and garnish it with cardamom powder, chopped pistachios. You may also add any other garnishes like dried rose petals, edible silver foil etc. Enjoy!
Nutrition
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