Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Habshi Halwa (Baked)


Dad, on his trips back home from Dera Ghazi Khan (Multan, Pakistan) would always bring back a delicious box of this mouth watering, fudgy goodness. It was called Ahmad's Multani Sohan Halwa and we ate it to our heart's content. Sometimes it used to come in a tin and other packaging was in individually wrapped cling wraps inside these tiki pouches. Either way, the tin always had a Multani decorative pattern on it. It was also gifted to foreign visitors as a souvenir. We used to refrigerate it for longer shelf life and that turned it to rock! So, before dinnertime we always kept the tin at room temperature. Still, after dinner there was always a King Arthur trying to take the sword out of the stone moment when we had to make pieces of this treat. 

This is seriously good stuff. In fact, it is so traditionally Pakistani that I would make it the nation's national halwa had I been the Prime Minister there. This is a difficult halwa if made on stovetop, so I ended up never trying. A baked version came up which is as simple as anything! It's an actual dump everything recipe. 

I debuted with this beauty on Eid ul Fitr 2020 (Year of Quarantine) and the family gave it an 11 on 10! Everyone enjoyed the trip down memory lane with this taste bomb! 

Original recipe is by a lady called Zubia Shahid. Variation of ingredient quantities is by a friend, Nusrat (Api). 

Ingredients:
Instant dry milk powder ( I used Giant store brand), 4 cups
Butter, 3 sticks (1 1/2 cup)
Milk, 3 cups
Walnuts, fine chopped, 1 cup
Sugar, 2 1/2 cups
Cardamom powder, 4 pinches 
Pinch of nutmeg powder (optional, I did not use)

Special equipment:
Large aluminum foil pan, preferably deep one (size: 20.5" x 3.3" x 13")
Note: Using a smaller pan or pyrex dish will cause spilling as ingredients boil
  1. Preheat oven at 350 F.
    Note: The original recipe, and variant recipe both work on a 2 1/2 hour cooking time. For me, the time was around 1 hour 40 minutes. So, it depends on the oven's heating capacity. 
  2. All ingredients are added in a large aluminum foil pan according to the original, and variant recipe. I did the layering in the following sequence: First evenly spread 4 cups instant dry milk powder, next evenly spread 2 1/2 cups sugar, set 3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) butter evenly spaced out on top of the sugar layer, spread out 1 cup fine chopped walnuts between the butter sticks. Randomly sprinkle 4 pinches of cardamom powder. Check video tutorial. Next, add 3 cups milk all over. Add (optional) pinch of nutmeg (I did not use). 
  3. Place the pan in the oven to cook. Cooking procedure for baked habshi halwa is all about stirring and mixing well at intervals until halwa is done! That easy! When you stir, make sure you scrape the pan's edges and turn over everything thoroughly.
  4. Check in about 20 minutes, butter sticks will have started to melt. Give the ingredients a stir. 
  5. Check back in another 20 minutes, give another good stir. Butter sticks will have fully melted, and milk will start to curdle. Boiling will be seen. 
  6. Check back in 20 minutes, browning will have started (depends on oven's heating capacity, may not brown yet for you). You will see the contents boiling.
  7. Check back in shorter intervals when contents turn to a chocolate brown color. Like, every 10 minutes. Later, even 5 minutes. Oil will separate, halwa like appearance will be there by now! Stir strong at this point.
  8. Halwa will be done when no white milk granules are visible, the color is a strong chocolate brown, and a taste test tells you it is AWESOME!
  9. Line a serving dish of your choice with parchment paper. Keep the paper a bit larger so it forms handles for you to lift the set halwa out from the dish. If you want thin pieces, take a flatter dish, if you want thick blocks take a deep dish like I did! 
  10. Scoop out and spread the hot halwa in the parchment lined dish. You may garnish with chopped walnuts, and/or edible silver paper (silver leaf) (Chandi ka Vark).
  11. Allow the halwa to cool and set before you lift the parchment out and cut pieces! 
This is good for a week if stored outside at room temperature. And longer shelf life in a fridge.

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