Wednesday 29 April 2015

POPPY SEEDS HALWA

KHASKHAS KA HALWA


Poppy seeds add colour and crunch to baking foods and these seeds are used to decorate bread, cakes, rolls and cookies. Poppy seeds are also used for making a thick paste for vegetable and meat curries, and for some Indian food for seasoning or tadka. Poppy seeds are considered to be rich in minerals and it is a good source of carbohydrate which gives a lot of energy to the body.


This halwa is a very nutritious, rich and tasty traditional Indian sweet. Hindus on many festival days like shivratri, navratri, ekadashi etc, fast from grain, this is a popular dish for those fasting days, because this is a good source of energy for those days. When I was young we use to wait for these fasting days when will get the chance to eat the Halwa. My mother was making this halwa on Shivatri. This is my mother's recipe, in which I have added mava (Khoya) later.


Poppy seeds have a unique, nutty and aromatic flavour, and pleasant taste, and has a lot of health benefits like sesame seeds. It can be replaced for sesame seeds in cooking for making a paste in curries etc. Though sesame seeds smaller in size compared to poppy seeds, but both sesame seeds and poppy seeds are good and are used a lot in Indian cooking.



RECIPE

INGREDIENTS


  • 200 grams poppy seeds
  • 100 grams ghee (Purified butter)
  •  200 grams sugar
  • 200 grams mava (khoya)
  • ¼ cup water
  • 100 grams sliced almonds or pistachios
  • ½ teaspoon Nutmeg powder

METHOD

  • Wash carefully in a sieve and soak poppy seeds for 24 hours, make the paste in the blender with the same water used for soaking.
  • On a medium flame heat the ghee in a thick bottomed sauce pan.
  • Roast the paste of poppy seeds till they are golden brown when you will start roasting, soon the water will start evaporating and the batter will start joining together.
  • When its colour is golden brown, add water then sugar and nutmeg powder, mix well and stir for 5 more minutes, till water evaporates.
  • Add grated mava or khoya
  • Decorate with nuts and serve.

34 comments:

  1. I love poppy seeds in my baked goods but have never heard of soaking them or making a paste with them. Sounds delicious!

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    1. Thanks Julie for visiting my blog, yes I soak and make paste with poppy seeds and use in curies for thickness and taste.

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  2. Reminds me of something my dad used to make – the Greek equivalent anyway! Very tasty - thanks for linking with #CookBlogShare

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  3. We Bengalis love a good dose of poppy seeds in our food but I have never heard of poppy seed halwa before. This sounds both interesting and intriguing. I am definitely trying this soon. Thanks a lot for the recipe.

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    1. Thanks Tanu sree for visiting my blog, and for nice comment.

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  4. Halwa is something that we all loooooooooooove here, and I like your recipe :)
    I'm not sure what "mava" is. We probably call it differently here

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    1. Thanks Winnie for visiting my blog, Mava/khoya, you can Google and find out there is a Wikipedia on khoya.

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  5. This look so delicious. I love how you made it.

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  6. this looks super awesome !!

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  7. This sounds delicious Sadhna! What a great sweet treat :) Thanks for linking up!

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    1. Thanks very much dear Tina, even in your busy schedule you are commenting and visiting my blog.

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  8. I bet the poppy seeds give that an interesting taste and texture. Thanks again for linking up with us today!

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  9. Looks delicious! I love almonds! Thanks for linking up with us at Delicious Dish Tuesday!

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  10. I really like hearing about other's traditional foods, it is so cool that we can share our traditions and ideas through our blogs, more of us adapt traditions and become more alike. I really love that. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. Thanks Nikki for visiting my blog and for your lovely comment.

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  11. yummy and tasty halwa.i am the big fan of this halwa.

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  12. Hope you are having a great week and thanks so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday.
    Come Back Soon!
    Miz Helen

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  13. Thanks for sharing on My 2 Favorite Things on Thursday - Link Party!! Hope to see you again tomorrow!! Love having you!! Pinned!!

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    1. Thanks very much for pinning, I will join again tomorrow.

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  14. I have never even heard of a poppy seed halwa, Sadhna, I will certainly try this one day when I feel like eating sweet stuff. I have heard of a poppy seed payasam, though I have never eaten it.

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    1. Thanks for visiting sra, please try it is very tasty and healthy as well.

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  15. I love poppy seeds, this halwa sounds amazing! Thanks for sharing at What'd You Do This Weekend?!

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  16. Your Poppy Seed Halwa looks delicious, Sadhna. It's lovely that you have worked with your mom's recipe. I was interested to read how good for us poppy seeds are - they are so delicious I'm happy to know that! Pinned and will tweet. Thank you for sharing with us at the Hearth and Soul hop.

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    1. Thanks April for such a lovely comment.Thanks for pinning, you are always very supportive.

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  17. Nice share! Thanks a lot for such a lovely blog posting this time

    around as well. Organic

    Quinoa

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