Godhumai halwa / Wheat halwa / Thirunelveli style halwa has been one of my dreams to make it at home. But always get scared to try thinking about the ghee that goes in. I have been waiting to try for this Diwali and luckily, 3 months back, a reader(Shankari Bagavathi) who’s background is from Thirunelveli, 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 flavourings, 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 cant take more than 2 spoons, it will ‘thegattify’ for me😊.
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.
What I love about the recipe is the caramelizing sugar part. It adds more flavor and colour 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😀.
Wheat halwa / Godhumai halwa
Prep Time: 8 hrs/ overnight soaking | Cook time: 45 mins | Makes: 15 small squares
Ingredients
Method
- Wash and soak the wheat berries overnight(or 8 hrs).
- Drain the water, grind it with 1/2 cup water smoothly.
- Filter it using a large metal strainer.
- Again grind the remain with another 1/2 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 nonstic pan, heat 1 tblsp of ghee and fry broken cashew nuts until golden brown and keep aside. Add 1/2 cup sugar and 1 tblsp 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. That it, wipe a little syrup from the back of the ladle dipped in sugar syrup, using ur fingers – forefinger and thumb, a string will form inbetween 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 tblsp at a time and mix until the ghee gets mixed with the halwa for every tblsp. 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 laddle 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.
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 3/4 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.
My favorite 🙂 I always wanted to try but I dint get authentic recipe. .. super halwa drooling. Great work…
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..
This is exactly how my grandmother and mother make it..looks absolutely delicious
Hi raks
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
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That looks delicious! I love cashew desserts 🙂
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…
gr8 job raks…kalakittenga…
Coconut adhirsam? I have not heard about it. so no idea, sorry about that.
Ooooh!!!! looks silky smooth…pretty pics!
Really very fantastic job raji. Thanks for sharing this recepie. You got lots of patience..
loos perfect.. hats off of pulling thirunelveli halwa at home..!
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.
Very nice halwa
Can i use Atta ( Kodhumai Maavu) instead of sambha wheat?
You can, but there is a different process for that. I will post before next Diwali 😉
Tempting
I am drooling here. Halwa looks really yummy
Can I use broken wheat rava to get the milk?
looks so good… though a bit time consuming, all worth the effort…
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…
halwa looks delicious… never tried making halwa with wheat… will try soon… thanks for sharing Raks…
Love the idea of caramelising sugar, perfect color too
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…
It could be your caramelized sugar wasnt dark enough
yesterday I made the halwa came out well, super hit, thank you for this recipe. The notes are very helpful. Thank you once again.
''Drain the excess water" What this exactly mean..
When you keep the ground wheat aside, it will settle and water will be standing separately on top. So drain it.
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..
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.
Tried this and loved it, got the exact color as well. thank u . I used broken wheat though.
Wow..its really superb..thanks for your recipe..:-)
I tried it today. it comes very well
Thank you 🙂
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.
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 ?
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 😉
Thanks for your effort in sharing…
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
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..
May be the sugar syrup consistency is not correct, its the only possible reason.
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 ��
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…
Use it up for making some other sweets like kesari 😉
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 .
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.
Can I use wheat flour directly skipping the grinding step?
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.
Shall I use samba broken wheat instead of whole wheat as I couldn't buy in my place
Super i will try it
Sure you can try.
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
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!
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!
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.
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
Can we use normal wheat? And also can I use brown sugar?
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
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 tirunelveli halwa
Sure, normal wheat also works, brown sugar gives perfect results too.
Perfect instructions for the starters!! Keeping giving such aweee recipes which engrosses many of us!! Cheers for your guidance!!
hi.. i tried with broken wheat it really came out well!!thanks for the recipe!!
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
Excellent directions. Used normal wheat, ground it in the idli grinder and followed your caramelization idea. Came out very well. Thanks. Happy Diwali.
dear raji,I followed the same procedure .. but somewhere went wrong .. it tastes little bitter.. explain me why..
Thank you 🙂
Can't replicate it 🙂
Thanks a lot 🙂
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.
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..
Thank you meera, will try sometime. I just saw your comment 🙂
Oh thank you for your feedback 🙂
Hi whether we can make halwa with godhumai rava. That is instead of soaking whole wheat we can soak wheat rava?
Hi whether we can make halwa with godhumai rava. That is instead of soaking whole wheat we can soak wheat rava?