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Recipe: My Ammaji's Gehun Ka Aaata Ka Halwa

April 18, 2023 12:54 IST

Gehun Ka Aata Ka Halwa was standard teatime fare in my home back in the day when guests actually came over for chai.

Someone or another would come dropping by in the somnolent afternoons, as the sun was going down, to sit on the verandah and gossip, drink cuppa after cuppa, tuck into hot bhajiyas, samosas, namkeen, chuda and something sweet and laze the time away. Do those days exist anymore?

We always preferred aata in our halwa to semolina or suji because the taste of roasted wheat flour is much more distinct and fragrant.

Aata Halwa is a very quick but sumptuous make. My Ammaji or grandmother (dadi) could make it with her eyes closed, double quick, the moment she saw a guest coming up the walk. So could my mother.

I prefer to strictly stick to precise measurements when cooking this halwa so nothing goes wrong because when the aata is roasting you would not like it to burn or under-roast or the dish to turn out soggy or too sweet.

Photographs: Zelda Pande

My Ammaji's Aata Ka Halwa

Serves: 4-5

Ingredients

Method

Zelda's Note: For vegan halwa, replace the ghee with cashew butter.

 

ZELDA PANDE