Kaddu Ka Halwa - Indian Pumpkin Dessert

Bored up with normal suji ka halwa? Then try this you will really fall in love with the combo, texture and taste!!

    Dum roat ka halwa is famous in southern part of India, and I guess very few people know about it. In Chennai, we get the best dam ka roat halwa in Basha Sweet shop, triplicane. Honestly nothing can beat his authentic taste which he is been carrying since so many years. These days Dum ka roat halwa is made and exported to other places too, If by chance you come across this halwa? do not hesitate to purchase a small box just to taste on how it is.

       It was when I was eating dum roat halwa which my relatives has brought, I started thinking what could be the recipe? how is it made? what are the ingredients? and yes then came the next step to Google!!! I wanted to check out for the recipes and landed to a blog which showed a recipe of dum roat ka halwa it did sound interesting, but still clueless upon the authentication, uncle ji had made it according to what he has tasted in udipi krishna bhawan balepet, Banglore. He made a close try though, And I tried to try his trial, omg a long process im crazy at times!! But I was positive even if I cannot reach the dum roat halwa effect atleast close by??? atleast something new???  Oh my mom is supportive in such cases I love her for this. I told her abt the recipe she said try lets see!!

     The star ingredient here is Ash gourd. You can use yellow pumpkin / bottle gourd too all these three in common are called kaddu which belongs to melon family with difference is size shape and taste. With lots of water content in them and very gud for health.

Preparation time - 30 mins
Cooking time - 30-40 mins
Servings - 10-15 people

Ingredients:

Kaddu/ pumpkin - 2.5 - 3kg 

Suji/ semolina/ cream of rice - 1 to 1.5 cups (grind it to fine powder)

Sugar - 2 cups

Mawa / Solid milk fat- 200gms

Ghee/ clarified butter - 150- 200 ml as needed

Elaichi/ Cardamon - 5-6 (seeds crushed to powder)

Almonds - 8-10 Grounded or chopped

Water - 4 cups
Food color used - yellow a pinch or more

Method:

- Grate kaddu and squeez all its extra water. Save the water for further use.

- In a kadai take 2-3tbsp of ghee and dry roast kaddu till it turns golden or cooked. Now add the kaddu water which you have saved into the kadai and close the lid, cook it nicely for 5-10 mins in medium flame it all the water gets absorbed. Keep it aside

- In another kadai take 2-3 tbsp ghee add suji and roast it in low medium flame till light golden brown and nice aroma of ghee comes.

- Boil 4cups water side by side.

- Once suji is roasted, add boiled water to suji and mix it well.

- Quickly add cooked kaddu, mawa, extra ghee, elaichi, sugar & yellow food color, mix it well!

- Keep mixing till everything gets blended well. (oops my hands ache) I got a better alternative to this (SEE NOTES) do all this in medium flame.

- Close the lid and allow it to cook, keep stirring time to time. till it starts moving as a mass nicely polished kind of appearing will come. preferably use a nonstick pan for the effect. (takes 15-20 mins)

- Add in some nuts and raisins if you desire.

- You will really get to know when its fully done. Switch off the flame

- Serve it warm or in room temperature both taste really awesome!!

My Recomendations:

- Since I worked out as per the recipe but honestly I felt only a man can become halwayi. Its not a female job to keep stirring with full efforts. My hands started aching real bad. I even called my brother to help me lolzz. The reason was suji was getting lumpy now and then, I had to make real efforts to break the lumps and allow a gud mix throughout for a homogeneous mixture.  

So the alternative I can fix here is when you boil water, add in kaddu, sugar, mawa, elaichi and ghee to it, let it come to another boil when everything gets mashed up. Then add suji from top and cook in low flame. This method will really save ur hand muscle efforts. Also it will not form any lumps.

- I added mawa just like that as you see in pics. But it will be much better if you can blend it in mixer with little milk or water and then add this to halwa. It will also help in easy mixing!!

Notes:
- Dont avoid suji it helps give some texture to the dessert. Though it may get lumpy (I dint face any problem), but still it can be managed by adding more ghee to make the halwa soft.
- If you dont have mawa, you can replace it with 1 tin of condensed milk. (adjust sugar accordingly)
- If you feel sugar is less, you can add it at any point while cooking but make sure its mixed throughly.
- I did not add raisins and cashews. You may add for extra crunch and flavor.
- Original recipe suggests adding camphor and kesar. If you like the combo go ahead for flavorings, but we do like camphor in our food, any north Indian wont!! Ive seen south Indian adding it to their prashad I dont know the reason though!! But it will for sure change the flavor and taste of this dessert. 
- Each time you reheat add some ghee this will keep the softness and flavors intact!!

***You can half the amount for less servings, But you also you can store it in fridge for later use. can keep gud for 2-3 weeks when stored in well refrigerated condition. Will show another dessert with left out halwa soon!!

When my brother tasted it, after few seconds said very close by!! Oh that was satisfying though. I felt the same!! it was too close, but that punch was missing. Yet this halwa was too delicious with lovely texture as we eat little by little at a time. Dont try to gulp in a big spoonful into the mouth, you will miss the taste and texture it carries. 

More In dept knowledge on what is dum ka roat halwa:
     With more of my research towards dum ka roat Reema shared that authentic halwa is made only by suji and mawa, no pumpkin involved. Yea it was shocking on how smooth and nice halwa is obtained just with suji and mawa as star ingredients. Further she said, it is a slow cook process made on charcoal fire. And im sure after cooking it is also baked!! If one notices charred marks on the halwa tray's in sweets shops?

Sharing some pictures from other websites.

From Basha Halwa!! Yess I loved the burnt side of halwa more. Its so flavorful....

This is click from the website I took the recipe. Well yess very late I found this post n click. This pic again shows the product is cooked & baked in charcoal fire.

I know my post must be disappointing to ones who wanted to try about dum roat ka halwa at home like me. But since the procedure is too different and difficult too, it cannot be made at home just for a little gathering.

So for now you can try this pumpkin halwa which is a close by end result to dum roat ka halwa!!

Until then cya bubye :)

Hope you enjoyed reading my post. Do leave back your valuable comments n feed backs, any quire?? do not hesitate I'll make sure I answer it at my possible best quickly :)