Godhumai halwa recipe with step by step photos. This is also known as Wheat halwa or Tirunelveli style halwa as it is originated from the region.
Making godhumai halwa as always been one of my dreams. Amma makes it especially for Diwali festival.
Do check my wheat flour halwa recipe if you are looking for super quick recipe. Also browse my Diwali recipes.
3 months back, a reader(Shankari Bagavathi) who’s background is from Tirunelveli, asked me to try and post.
I told her that I have no authentic recipe. She immediately sent me recipe which is from her own grandma, but also referred a video in which a different method of making sugar syrup was there.
So I combined both as she suggested me and tried. And I was amazed with the results.
With no artificial food colour or flavors, I could totally relate it to the ‘Iruttu kadai halwa’ which I have tasted 2-3 times.
Once when we went for a family tour to Thirunelveli and the other two times, Vj got it from some shop.
Later I asked him to stop buying as I am not a big fan of this halwa. I like it but I can't take more than 2 spoons, it will ‘thegattify’ for me😊.
Speciality
The wheat halwa prepared at home and the one we buy at shops are different. Homemade has a wonderful fresh flavor of wheat as well as ghee.
White the store bought ones have a unique flavor and a texture as well. It has a slight whitish crystalized portions.
The first time I tasted wheat halwa was when I was kid and it was homemade.
Mom made it like a project and she made it in a large quantity, so I could see her sweat making it.
One has to keep on stirring it so, it was difficult for her I understood. I just watched her making later tasted it little that’s it.
Those days I used to completely hate sweets. And when I got conceived something ulta happened and I started loving sweets.
But still I can say I don’t hate sweets now, not much addicted as well.
Why this works
What I love about the recipe is the caramelizing sugar part. It adds more flavor and color to this halwa and tastes very close to the authentic Thirunelvali Iruttukadai Halwa.
Thank you so much Shankari, for sharing the recipe 🙂. These days we are in nuclear family system and I am sure you can make this in small quantity like me for this Diwali and surprise your family with this authentic sweet.
My picture is not that great, coz I got content as well as tired after finishing this project, so took the pictures fast😀.
Recipe card
Godhumai halwa recipe
Ingredients
- ½ cup Whole wheat used Samba godhumai
- 1.5 cup Sugar
- 8 Cashew nut
- ¾ cup Ghee
Instructions
- Wash and soak the wheat berries overnight (or 10 hrs).
- Drain the water, grind it with ½ cup water smoothly.
- Filter it using a large metal strainer.
- Again grind the remain with another ½ cup water. Strain through a metal strainer.
- Keep the collected milk from the ground wheat aside for 30 minutes undisturbed.
- Drain the excess water. Make sure to use correct sized vessel to ensure draining the excess water easily (my experience).
- In a heavy bottomed vessel, I used a non-stic pan, heat 1 tablespoon of ghee and fry broken cashew nuts until golden brown and keep aside.
- Add ½ cup sugar and 1 tablespoon of water to it.
- Continue heating in medium flame, while you keep stirring. It will melt, get dry again and then later start changing colour.
- At this point you should put the flame to low. Make sure you stir well and not let the flame in high or not let the sugar get burnt.
- Otherwise the whole halwa may turn bitter.
- When the sugar syrup turns golden in colour, this is perfect for this halwa.
- Add 1 cup water really careful as it will splutter a lot .
- Stir well so that the caramelized sugar gets dissolved. Yes, it will solidify and float on the top when you pour water. So mix well to almost dissolve it.
- Now add the remaining sugar and mix until it dissolves.
- Continue boiling until you get one string consistency.
- To check the syrup consistency, wipe a little syrup from the back of the ladle dipped in sugar syrup, using ur fingers – forefinger and thumb, a string will form in-between ur fingers without breaking.
- Be careful not to miss the consistency, make sure you do it in medium flame otherwise you will get burfi instead of halwa. Add the drained wheat milk.
- Keep mixing as you are pouring. The colour will change as the milk gets cooked.
- Now start adding ghee little by little, say one tablespoon at a time and mix until the ghee gets mixed with the halwa for every tbsp.
- It will absorb (incorporate the ghee) so add little by little as you mix and stir for a minute and repeat the process.11-add-ghee
- At one stage, the ghee will not be absorbed anymore, it will be at the sides as such.
- It may take a lot of time, so patience is the key. Never put the flame in high, do in medium flame always. Keep stirring, the whole process takes 30 mins roughly.
- Now add the cashew nuts and keep stirring until the whole halwa sticks to your ladle you are stirring and rotates freely.
- Do not switch off as soon as the halwa starts to leave the sides of pan, the texture will be too soft like porridge if you taste.
- Keep stirring until you see whitish spots appear in the halwa and the whole halwa will start changing slightly pale.14-cahew
- Spread it over a greased plate and let it cool down. 15-spread
- Optionally you can cut it into pieces or spoon it as such to serving bowls.
Notes
- I used samba variety of wheat berries. For me extracting milk was mess free and I could extract completely the milk and fibre in two times itself. I am not sure with the other variety.
- My mom used to say samba godhumai works best. So I saw this pack of samba godhumai in mustafa surprisingly and took it to try this halwa.
- Making caramelized sugar syrup is important for this recipe for getting the authentic flavour. But make sure you do not brown the sugar too much.
- You may not need the whole ¾ cup of ghee, it depends, so add accordingly and see yourself.
- The ratio of wheat and sugar is 1 : 3 , so do not alter the recipe for the glossy look and authentic taste.
- Perfect for the Diwali festival season, loaded with ghee and sugar. Restrict yourself to few spoons per day and enjoy the halwa.
Stepwise photos
- Wash and soak the wheat berries overnight(or 8 hrs).
- Drain the water, grind it with ½ cup water smoothly.
- Filter it using a large metal strainer.
- Again grind the remain with another ½ cup water. Strain through a metal strainer.
- Keep the collected milk from the ground wheat aside for 30 minutes undisturbed. Drain the excess water. Make sure to use correct sized vessel to ensure draining the excess water easily (my experience).
- In a heavy bottomed vessel, I used a non-stick pan, heat 1 tablespoon of ghee and fry broken cashew nuts until golden brown and keep aside. Add ½ cup sugar and 1 tablespoon of water to it.
- Continue heating in medium flame, while you keep stirring. It will melt, get dry again and then later start changing colour.
- At this point you should put the flame to low. Make sure you stir all the time and not let the flame in high or not let the sugar get burnt.
- Otherwise the whole halwa may turn bitter.
- When the sugar syrup turns golden in colour, this is perfect for this halwa. Add 1 cup water REALLY CAREFULLY AS IT WILL SPLUTTER.
- Stir well so that the caramelized sugar gets dissolved. Yes, it will solidify and float on the top when you pour water. So mix well to almost dissolve it.
- Now add the remaining sugar and mix until it dissolves.
- Continue boiling until you get one string consistency.
Right consistency
- To check the syrup consistency, wipe a little syrup from the back of the ladle dipped in sugar syrup, using ur fingers – forefinger and thumb, a string will form in-between ur fingers without breaking.
- Be careful not to miss the consistency, make sure you do it in medium flame otherwise you will get burfi instead of halwa. Add the drained wheat milk.
- Keep mixing as you are pouring. The colour will change as the milk gets cooked.
- Now start adding ghee little by little, say one tablespoon at a time and mix until the ghee gets mixed with the halwa for every tbsp.
- It will absorb (incorporate the ghee) so add little by little as you mix and stir for a minute and repeat the process.
- At one stage, the ghee will not be absorbed anymore, it will be at the sides as such.
- It may take a lot of time, so patience is the key. Never put the flame in high, do in medium flame always. Keep stirring, the whole process takes 30 mins roughly.
- Now add the cashew nuts and keep stirring until the whole halwa sticks to your ladle you are stirring and rotates freely.
- Do not switch off as soon as the halwa starts to leave the sides of pan, the texture will be too soft like porridge if you taste.
- Keep stirring until you see whitish spots appear in the halwa and the whole halwa will start changing slightly pale.
- Spread it over a greased plate and let it cool down.
- Optionally you can cut it into pieces or spoon it as such to serving bowls.
Perfect for the Diwali festival season, loaded with ghee and sugar. Restrict yourself to few spoons per day and enjoy the halwa.
priyaah
My favorite 🙂 I always wanted to try but I dint get authentic recipe. .. super halwa drooling. Great work...
Kalpana Sareesh
Brilliant .. exact texture like iruttu kadai halwa.. I want to try it but m worried abt the ghee .. but still ur step wise pics s giving me confidence to try it soonerr.. will give s shot for sure..
Kaveri Venkatesh
This is exactly how my grandmother and mother make it..looks absolutely delicious
ambika
Hi raks
ambika
I tried many times I didn't get the texture next time I will fallow your tips I want to prepare coconut adhirasam can I fallow adhirasam process help me
Unknown
This comment has been removed by the author.
June Baby
That looks delicious! I love cashew desserts 🙂
priya ravi
Super Raji.. Really awesome work.. U must be very patient to take photos at each step.. I would have sweated out if i try to do both .. I will try for this diwali...
Kurinji
gr8 job raks...kalakittenga...
Raks anand
Coconut adhirsam? I have not heard about it. so no idea, sorry about that.
Jayanthi Sindhiya
Ooooh!!!! looks silky smooth...pretty pics!
Kirthi Manivannan
Really very fantastic job raji. Thanks for sharing this recepie. You got lots of patience..
Divs
loos perfect.. hats off of pulling thirunelveli halwa at home..!
Durga Karthik.
Sooper.Do add this info. Which my grandma does.After few days of preparation while serving she spreads this in a dosai kal.Heats it and serves fresh.Yummy.
Rama
Very nice halwa
Sridevi Ramasamy
Can i use Atta ( Kodhumai Maavu) instead of sambha wheat?
Raks anand
You can, but there is a different process for that. I will post before next Diwali 😉
sankar saranya
Tempting
Vidhya Iyer
I am drooling here. Halwa looks really yummy
Kanaha
Can I use broken wheat rava to get the milk?
Rafeeda AR
looks so good... though a bit time consuming, all worth the effort...
Ranjani Raj
its tempting halwa :)yes the storebought ones have lot of sugars n it.. thats a big advantage in home made ones.. we can adjust the sugar level.. Thanks for the wonderful post.. will try it soon...
Amina Khaleel
halwa looks delicious... never tried making halwa with wheat... will try soon... thanks for sharing Raks...
SHARMILEE J
Love the idea of caramelising sugar, perfect color too
RevathySuresh
Hi
I tried it.. It tastes Gud.. But I don't get this color... Mine is in pale yellow, I don't know where I went wrong... Do let me know...
Raks anand
It could be your caramelized sugar wasnt dark enough
Sakunthala
yesterday I made the halwa came out well, super hit, thank you for this recipe. The notes are very helpful. Thank you once again.
Priya Sasindhran
''Drain the excess water" What this exactly mean..
Raks anand
When you keep the ground wheat aside, it will settle and water will be standing separately on top. So drain it.
veeranna NS NS
Today one of my colleague brought thirnalvel halwa,
It was very yammy and I fond of its taste.
Personally, I am passion about cooking I am searching how to prepare I got ur web site. really i am fan of ur website the way of explain is great. with great effort step by step photo also provided.
Thanks a lot..
Sri meenakshi Sridharan
You are very impressive, person doesn't know ABCD of cooking have grown this much..must be your hard-work ,interest & passion..thanks for your pics shared here..will try this halwa my favorite one.
Pavithra Moorthy
Tried this and loved it, got the exact color as well. thank u . I used broken wheat though.
munna ajmal
Wow..its really superb..thanks for your recipe..:-)
raja sekar
I tried it today. it comes very well
Thank you 🙂
Rekha
It is the oldest method of doing halwa which my father told me once that his grandma used to make. Nw il surprise him by making it. Nowadays ppl r preparing just with wheat flour. But this one is really grt. It's hard to find this kind of recipes these days. Keep posting recipes like this. Thanks to u.
Abitha
Hi I tried and it came out well. thank you
Quick Question
1. In step 8, you have mentioned "Sugar Syrup" but I had only sugar crystals before adding water. Is the same you are mentioning or caramelizing will be a liquid ?
2. Few people say it is required to ferment the wheat milk to separate the whey is it true ?
Raks anand
It was liquid as you see in my step 8. as I added water, it became a single mass. Not crystals though.
If you ferment, it tastes better too, I too have heard 😉
Unknown
Thanks for your effort in sharing...
Fhareena
Mine came out very nice but used almond slices as I had no cashews. Thank you very much and would have loved to shared the pic
VARTHINI S
Ur halwa looks yummy... I tried it... It became very hard when it cools... Not even able to take in spoon... Can u pls tell me. What is the mistake i did..
Raks anand
May be the sugar syrup consistency is not correct, its the only possible reason.
Unknown
The sugar crystallized instead of becoming syrup. I added water to it anyway. Once the ghee addition started, I kept going till it wouldn't take it anymore and then after I saw the white frothy look, I added cashews. Subsequent stirring however caused it to start letting out too much ghee. To a point where the whole thing was boiling in ghee. I realized I must've added too much so starting spooning the excess out and poured into a greased plate.
Now for it to cool n then see the outcome. Fingers crossed.
I'm making this for my preg wife, btw ��
Satish
Following up on the above comment from 01/24.. the thing cooled and it tastes awesome. Nothing like iruttu kadai halwa, my version, but hey, it tasted awesome. The excess ghee is sitting around now...
Raks anand
Use it up for making some other sweets like kesari 😉
hamsa
tried wheat halwa . it came out very well . especially was able to get the brown colour without adding food colour ,which i generally . excellent and thank you for sharing .
am
Haved tried halwa, with so much fear.Came out really well to my astonishment. Have tried ur rasagulla,rasmalai,and badhusa recipes. All came out perfect,except for badhusa. I missed sugar consitency. I can follow ur recipe with so much confidence.Without thinking, it ll come. Perfect measurements n tips. Thank u Raji.
Gayathri Ramanathan
Can I use wheat flour directly skipping the grinding step?
Raks anand
Yes, but the method is not that simple, you should make dough and get milk from that dough. If you want to use flour, try my atta halwa, which is very easy and simple, but taste wise different.
Sindhuraj
Shall I use samba broken wheat instead of whole wheat as I couldn't buy in my place
haikamala
Super i will try it
Raks anand
Sure you can try.
lakshmi
Hi Raji, This Diwali is spl at our home from the recipes taken from your site. Wheat halwa, badhusha, thenkuzhal. Got appreciation from my hubby and son too. All were excellent. Thanks for the recipes. Happy Diwali
usha
Hi, quick query:
Made the halwa from slightly thick extracted milk and it now tastes half cooked like you have mentioned.
Any idea how to set the taste right now? Should I put it on the stove for another round of stirring with ghee and hot water or should I cook this with sugar syrup for a while?
Thanks!
usha
Hi, quick query: Followed this recipe to the T with a slight hitch - Had to turn off stove for an hour at the half-way stage while stirring, due to an exigency. Resumed and continued the stirring for over an hour after that. The halwa does not taste fully cooked now, nor did the ghee ooze out before switching off gas, despite more than 2-3 hrs of cooking on the whole.
What do you think would set right the taste? Should I add a little water / sugar syrup and cook the halwa again or just put it on the stove adding ghee for another round of stirring till ghee separates?
Thanks!
Raks anand
If you have not added sugar, you can cook again with hot water, but if you have added sugar, you cannot cook again as after adding sugar, it will stop getting cooked. Sorry for my late response, just saw.
sumathi
I used to make wheat halwa for festivals by adding food colour to get colour. But this is the first time I achieved the correct flavour colour and texure by following your tips of caramalisation. Wow. It came out superb. Thank u
Sudhakar Babu RCS
hi.. i like your blog. You have explained how to prepare tirunelveli halwa in detailed manner . its very nice and recently i purchased tirunelveli halwa online it was an awesome experience
Kavi Mohan
Can we use normal wheat? And also can I use brown sugar?
Sudhakar Babu RCS
hi.. i like your blog. You have explained how to prepare tirunelveli halwa in detailed manner . its very nice and recently i purchased tirunelveli halwa online from woodswholesalewine.. it was an awesome experience to buy tirunelveli halwa online
Raks anand
Sure, normal wheat also works, brown sugar gives perfect results too.
Unknown
Perfect instructions for the starters!! Keeping giving such aweee recipes which engrosses many of us!! Cheers for your guidance!!
sindhuja
hi.. i tried with broken wheat it really came out well!!thanks for the recipe!!
Swami Ramany
Excellent directions. Used normal wheat, ground it in the idli grinder and followed your caramelization idea. Came out very well. Thanks. Happy Diwali.
Unknown
Hi raks thanks for the recipe I tried it. Consistency wise colour everything was good except for the taste it smells different and does not taste like iruttu kadai halwa.where am I going wrong
uma natraj
dear raji,I followed the same procedure .. but somewhere went wrong .. it tastes little bitter.. explain me why..
Raks anand
Thank you 🙂
Raks anand
Can't replicate it 🙂
Raks anand
Thanks a lot 🙂
Raks anand
If you caramelize sugar more than needed, it becomes bitter. Switch off earlier to avoid bitterness. Do sugar syrup in low flame or medium flame.
meera
I happened to see this easy cooker wheat halwa in a tv show. I have not tried it personally though. Just thought of sharing it with you.
Extracting milk from wheat same procedure. Set aside for min 2 hrs. Drain. For 1 cup of wheat milk take 1 & 1/4 - 1 & 1/2 cups sugar. Mix this sugar with the wheat milk till it is dissolved. Take this milk + sugar mixture in a big vessel (big because the mix should not get splattered). Place this vessel in a cooker, when you get 2 to 3 whistles, keep the flame in sim for around 40 minutes. Take out after 2 / 3 minutes, mash it with the help of a ladle quickly. For original colour - same as you said, caramalize 2 tblspoons of sugar and pour this into the mixture and thoroughly stir for 2 / 3 mins in slow flame, remove. Roast cashews / almonds in 1 or 2 tblspoons of ghee. Add this to halwa, pour into a greased plate and pat smoothly with a dabara (cup) and cut into squares... This way you don't have to stand and keep stirring constantly and less amount of ghee is enough... For more quantity, keep the mixture in the cooker for an extra 10 mins or so..
Raks Kitchen
Thank you meera, will try sometime. I just saw your comment 🙂
Raks Kitchen
Oh thank you for your feedback 🙂
Jayanthi Gowtham
Hi whether we can make halwa with godhumai rava. That is instead of soaking whole wheat we can soak wheat rava?
Jayanthi Gowtham
Hi whether we can make halwa with godhumai rava. That is instead of soaking whole wheat we can soak wheat rava?
Ravikumar
After trying other recipes, we tried yours today. It came out very well.
Bhuvana
After removing the water, if u measure the wheat milk and if u give the how much is the wheat milk then it will be useful tip to make coz if we add little water or more then the consistency will differ and halwa won’t come out.. I am ur big follower and I learnt all my cooking’s from u.. everyday wake up with ur recipe page and sleep with ur web page.. only this recipe I have an doubt
Raks Anand
Thank you Bhuvana, that's why I have given the water measurement as well to grind 🙂 Even little more water (just a little more, not too much) would take longer to get halwa otherwise there wont be any issue.
Malathi Jagannathan
Hi! I made this today using your recipe. It came extremely well and was perfect. Thank you so much for having shared it in such a perfect manner.
Raks Anand
Thanks a lot 🙂 Happy Diwali!
Gomathi Ramesh
Can we use store bought wheat milk instead of soaking & grinding. If yes, will there be any change in measurements. Thanks! Love your recipes.
Raks Anand
Is it available so? I have no idea. But it is better to take milk this way as I am not sure what process the wheat milk going through... Thank you 🙂
Vaidegi
Came out well, thougt time consuming, the longer it takes the chewier it gets i think! Thank you for the detailed explanation!
Raks Anand
Thank you so much. Yes, the amount of ghee and cooking time decides the chewy texture. You can also return to cook again to make more chewier later 🙂