How to make Atta ka Halwa

With all the major Indian festivals coming up soon, and after receiving the amazing feedback on Instagram, I decided to share some of my favourite Indian sweets on the blog. One of the best things about this time of year is definitely the smell of cooking ghee and milk, and all the wonderful treats that are made. Interesting fact – I don’t ever eat my own sweets!

Actually, perhaps I only would eat Atta Ka Halwa.

Atte Ka Halwa (or Kada Prashad) is an Indian favourite. Growing up I used to love heading to the Gurudwara in town to get the delicious and incredibly ghee heavy Kada Prashad. I’m yet to find someone that doesn’t enjoy this dessert – the flavour is incredibly rich, toasted and oh-so-homely. My recipe is a slight variation to the traditional recipes that are out there, purely by preference for an ever-so-slightly healthier version.

Atta Ka Halwa is so incredibly simple with it technically only requiring 4 ingredients – wholewheat flour, sugar, ghee and water. My recipe adds just a hint of cardamom in mine for some added freshness to the otherwise super rich recipe. Though simple, there are really key tips that will ensure a perfect halwa result

1. Cooking the atta/wholewheat flour

   This is absolutely critical to this sweet. You need to take the time and put in the leg work (arm work really) to get beautifully toasted flour. It should go from a soft light brown to a deep rich brown colour, without burning.

2. Stir the entire time

By stirring the pan/pot continuously you will prevent the flour from burning. This is SO important! There is nothing worse than burnt halwa.

3. Hot water

Probably an odd recipe requirement for a dessert, but it is essential to use hot water in your halwa. We aren’t adding water to reduce the temperature, or bring the mixture to a boil – rather we are adding water to the flour and ghee mixture to create a smooth pudding. Adding cold water will stop the cooking process, and un-do all the hard work you put in to mix the flour and ghee together.

You have to be super careful when you do add the hot water to the pan as it starts to bubble a lot! Add the water slowly and in parts to prevent any accidents, and mix the halwa ingredients through the entire time.

4. Cardamom right at the end

The little hint of freshly ground cardamom right at the end gives this halwa a lovely bright tone. If you add the cardamom in too early, your cardamom will lose some of the flavour.

The recipe below uses really small quantities, and is enough to make Atte ka Halwa for 2 people. Normally I don’t make excessive amounts of it at home purely because the dessert is so rich and dense, and thought the quantity seems really small, trust me with this – you don’t need to make a lot!

Watch me make this awesome recipe here:

Now let’s see the recipe card