Chana Dal Halwa| Chana Dal Burfi

Today I am posting a dessert recipe, Chana dal burfi. It is a fudge made with split chickpeas. I had 3 reasons to make a dessert today.  One reason is Holi, the other reason is its Panguni Uthram, my late grandpa's birthday and then today we had report card conference and Thaara made us very proud. I tried this dessert and it came out really well and everyone at home really enjoyed it. 

Dear Friends, Readers and Fellow  bloggers,

Happy  Holi to you all!!

Recipe Source : Kirti Chaudhary

What are the ingredients needed?

Chana dhal/ Kadalai paruppu/ split chickpeas, 1 cup

Ghee, 1/2 cup

Milk, 2 cups

Sugar, 1/2 cup

Cardamom, 3-4 nos. 

Cashews/ Almonds/Pistachios, as needed
Food color as needed

How it is made?

1. Soak chana dal for atleast 4 hours.
2. Remove the skin of the cardamom and powder the seeds with a tablespoon of sugar and keep it aside.
3. Fry cashew nuts in a ghee and keep them ready.
4. Drain the excess water and pressure cook the soaked dal with a cup of water till its done.
5. Then with a wooden spoon/spatula, mash the dal.
6. Heat ghee in a pan, add the mashed dal and fry for 10-12 minutes till the raw smell disappears. Keep stirring. 
7. Then add half cup of milk and continue to stir, till the milk is absorbed well and then add another half cup milk and repeat the process till  all the milk is used.
8. Now add the sugar and continue to stir, till it melts and blends well with  the mixture.
9. Continue to stir until the halwa is ready. To check the doneness, when you touch and roll the halwa, it should be no longer sticky.
10. Then add the powdered cardamom and fried cashews and mix well.
11. Now you can serve it as is as halwa. If you want to serve it as burfi, then grease the tray with ghee and pour the mixture and slice it and serve.

Notes

• You can mash the dal in a blender too. But the paste has to be coarse, not a smooth mixture.
• I would suggest using a heavy bottomed pan or non stick pan for making this dish.
• I have added edible color to the halwa to make it look attractive. You can omit it too.
• The Halwa needs continues stirring. It  took around 40 minutes in the stove for me and I was constantly stirring to avoid the halwa burn in the bottom.
• Add milk little by little, dont add them all at once.
• I made them as burfi and served them. You can serve as halwa too.
• You can use nuts of your choice. I used cashews and for garnishing the burfi used pistachios.