Arrowroot Halwa is a very healthy sweetmeat that can be fed even to babies. This recipe is versatile and very easy to prepare; takes about 20-30 minutes.
Arrowroot, naturally gluten-free, is a very nutritious and has impressive health benefits. It is obtained from roots of many different plants and rhizomes. Since it has higher protein concentration and folate compared to other root vegetables, it boosts healthy growth and development. So from being used in infant formula or as a baby food, it also helps in metabolism, digestion and weight loss.
Yields: 15- 20 pieces (varies depending on the size you cut)
Ingredients:
Arrowroot Flour – 1 cup
Sugar – 2 cups
Water – 3 cups
Salt – a pinch
Cardamom Powder – 1 teaspoon
Ghee/Clarified Butter – 3 tablespoons + for greasing
Almonds, slivered – 2 tablespoons
Pistachios, slivered – 2 tablespoons
Method:
- Grease a tray with some ghee and keep aside.
- Take arrowroot flour, sugar, water, salt, cardamom powder and ghee in a thick bottomed pan. Mix thoroughly to remove any lumps.
- Place the pan on high flame and cook the mixture by stirring continuously to avoid the mixture from sticking to the bottom of the pan or forming any lumps.
- Keep stirring until the mixture turns glassy or semi transparent. Now set the flame to low.
- Continue stirring until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan. Immediately, transfer the mixture into a greased tray and sprinkle slivered almonds and pistachios. Gently shake the pan for the mixture to settle down; do not try to level it with a spatula. Do not scrape the left-over mixture from the pan as it sets very quickly and the scraped mixture will not set in well. Allow it to cool down completely to room temperature.
- Cut into squares and serve. The left-over halwa can be stored at room temperature for a day. If refrigerated in an air-tight container they stay fresh for 2 days.
Notes:
- This halwa is so versatile that it can be prepared in different flavors like fresh blueberry, strawberry, raspberry, mango, pineapple or any other fruit of your choice. While preparing any of these flavors, extract the fruit juice and add it to the mixture such that the total volume of liquid does not exceed 3 cups. Adjust the sugar quantity depending on the sweetness of the fruit that you are using to flavor.
- If you are preparing it without any fruit flavor as described in the recipe above, you can try your choice of essence like rose, kewra, pineapple etc., instead of using cardamom.
- You can add milk or coconut milk instead of water.
- Various other chopped nuts of your choice can be added.
2 comments
@Rafeeda, sorry for delayed response. quantity of sugar mentioned is optimum, but you could try reducing it by half cup. Do let me know if you liked it 🙂
This is such a lovely recipe! I always have arrowroot in stock and would love to try this for sure… just wondering if I can reduce the sugar…