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.

Porotta Kurma - Peas Kurma

What kind of food comes to mind when I think of long car trips in the US? the fast food McD kind of food, I can't resist the fish sandwich and french fries. On the other hand a long road trip in India always reminds me of the road side Porotta stalls open all through the night even in the remote parts, lit up with bright tube lights with a big griddle sitting in front of the store and hot hot porottas being made on them. The porottas are usually served with mixed vegetable kurma or dried peas kormas. Soaked in this korma, the porotta's taste delicious all caution to the wind about the road side eatery, it is piping hot what could possible go wrong and seriously I or the family have never fallen sick eating them. Got a packet of dried peas a long time ago to recreate this road side korma and finally the day did arrive.

Read about Inji's very interesting take on her road side favorite.

Peas Kurma

1. 1 1/2 Cups of Dried Peas soaked overnight (can be cooked prior)
2. 1/4 Red onion chopped
3. Seasonings curry leaves, cumin,mustard
4. 1 + 1 tsp oil
5. salt

For the Paste
1. 1/2 Medium Red onion + 10 Small Red onions
2. 3 medium sized red tomatoes
3. 1 1/2 tbsp grated coconut
4. 1 tbsp corriander seeds
5. 1 tsp cumin seeds
6. 3 Red chilies
7. a pinch or two of fennel seeds
8. 3 cloves
9. a 1 inch piece of cinnamon
10. 4 garlic pods + 1 inch piece of ginger
11. 1 tsp of turmeric powder

Saute the ingredients 1-10, first the onions when translucent start adding all others with coconut being the last and when cool add the turmeric powder blend to a paste.

Method
1. In a pan heat oil add the seasonings followed by the onion and saute till translucent.
2. Now add the peas and mix and let them cook for 3-4 minutes.
3. Add the blended mixture with about 2-3 cups of water (the peas were not cooked so enough water to cook them, DO NOT add salt) . If you using cooked peas reduce the water to about a 1 1/2 cup or the conistency desired.
4. Cover the lid and in medium let it cook till the peas have reached the consistency you desire.
5. Add salt and simmer for a minute.

Serve with Chaptis or Porottas. The taste was close enough, but I don't remember the exact taste anyway :)