Halwa of the Poori Halwa

A friend at work often talked about eating poori with halwa, the first I heard of it, marked it of as just her personal preference, not being familiar or even having heard of eating Poori with Halwa, for me poori is eaten with either Potato Masal or Peas Kurma or any Kurma. But thanks to the blogs and the festival season being celebrated around the blogworld I was pleasantly surprised to find out that eating Poori with Halwa is a North Indian tradition, there it is again the North South thing so it might be just a few states in the north, what do I know. Ingredient from which Halwa is made of, is not a lot different from the way Kesari is made. Cream of Wheat (Sooji or Rawa), ghee, sugar, dried fruits and nuts all ingredients that go into making a delicious Kesari.

Recipe Source: NPR's Kitchen Window

When I did finally make it was not much different than Kesari, creamy soft and rich, even though I cut down the fat used by about 2/3rds. I can imagine the taste with a piece of poori. I was not in a mood to make pooris, it rained for the past 4 days, no complaints about the rain, we need it but it is cold outside. But the Halwa can be enjoyed just by itself.

Ingredients
1. 1 Cup of Cream of Wheat
2. 1 Cup of Sugar
3. 3 cups of water
3. 2 tbsp of butter + 1/2 tbsp ghee
4. 2 pods of cardamom
5. 2 tbsp of cashews and slivered almonds

Method
1. Heat 2 tbsp of butter in a pan and when it melts add the cream of wheat and roast for about 10 minutes. Switch off the heat.
2. In a sauce pan, heat the water, sugar, cardamom and about 10 almond slivers when the sugar disolves and the water is at a boil
3. Start the heat on the cream of wheat, add the sugar syrup and mix well and let the cream of wheat start to thicken
4. Now cover the pan and let it cook for 8-10 minutes
5. Open the lid, add the ghee on the side, reserve about 1/2 tsp to roast the nuts
6. Heat for another 5 minutes, add the nuts on top and switch off the heat.

Eat just by itself or serve with Poori.