Didi, dimer halua banabo? ( Didi, shall I make some egg halwa? ), asked my daughter’s new nanny. She has been a blessing for me during the lockdown period. I had heard about ande ka halwa on social media and for some reason, it never piqued my interest. There were a few extra packets of milk and when Mithu offered to make the halwa, I kept an open mind. As I was sitting down and working on a blog post, I could smell the ghee and the milk along with cardamom all over the house. It engulfed me with the desire to taste it as soon as possible. And when I did, I thought it was irresistible.
Ande Ka Halwa is a Quick Dessert
It takes all of 15 minutes to make this dessert. Unlike so many other halwas, where you have to slow cook for hours, this one is really quick. Having said that, the idea is to cook on a low flame so that it doesn’t really become scrambled egg. It is also known as ande ka meetha. I am not sure about the origin of this recipe, however there are several Pakistani ande ka halwa recipes. Typically a lot of families from North India also make this dish. Many families with Muslim origin make ande ka meetha in other parts of the country. When I asked Mithu, she said she learnt it from her sister. I am thankful that she passed on this recipe to me. I have already made it twice since then and it finishes in a jiffy.
Ingredients required
Anyone can make ande ka halwa. It is made with basic pantry ingredients- eggs and milk. Add some flavour or spices to mask the smell of egg and it’s done. For the beautiful yellow colour, you can use saffron or food colour. Saffron will give you an extra flavour as well. Also, you are free to use khoya or mawa to make it more rich. Having said that, I did it only with ghee, milk, eggs, cardamom and bayleaf. And I can say, this ande ha halwa recipe is just too good. It has a nice danedaar texture, ie it has a grainy texture, much like small boondis or mihidana. The ghee and the cardamom together masks the smell of the eggs. You can use some dry fruits and nuts of your choice to make it more lush.
Tips to make an excellent danedaar ande ka halwa
- Whisk the eggs and milk thoroughly. There shouldn’t be any water from the egg white left.
- If using saffron, soak a portion of milk with saffron and keep aside for half hour before cooking.
- Use good quality desi ghee to make the halwa. If you ghee doesn’t have fragrance, the halwa won’t taste good.
- Initially you have to slow cook. It looks impossible in the beginning that the milk will thicken. But trust me, it does and if you lose patience and increase the heat in the beginning, it never tastes good.
- Patience is the key. The heat can be turned to medium when the milk has almost thickened.
- Keep cooking till the texture becomes like small grains and there is only ghee leaving the sides of the pan. There shouldn’t be any water left as a residue.
Check out how to make this in this video below :-
Serving and Storing Suggestions
Serve ande ka halwa with dry fruits and nuts. You must serve it hot or warm. A cold halwa doesn’t taste good. You can store in the refrigerator for upto 5 days and re heat each time before eating. You can freeze ande ka halwa in the freezer for a month. Bring it to room temperature and then while re heating, add a dollop of ghee.
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Ande Ka Halwa
Ingredients
- 500 ml milk preferably whole milk but you can make with toned milk as well
- 4 nos eggs at room temperature
- 3 tbsp ghee
- 2 nos dried bayleaf
- 8 nos green cardamom
- 4 tbsp sugar
- yellow food colour see notes
- 1/2 cup cashew and raisins see notes
Instructions
- Take 6 green cardamoms, remove the skins and crush the black seeds and keep them aside.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs. Add milk and food colour and whisk thoroughly.
- In a heavy bottomed saucepan, take 1 tbsp of ghee and heat it. Add the cashews and kismis and lightly fry them. Take them out with a slotted spoon and keep aside.
- In the same pan, add the rest of the ghee and when it is hot, add the dried bay leaf and 2 nos green cardamom. When it releases flavour, lower the heat and pour in the milk and eggs, while whisking.
- Keep the temperature at low and continue stirring. Just like you do for a creamy scrambled egg, keep stirring till the milk starts to thicken.
- When it has thickened like a custard, increase the temp to medium and keep stirring till it thickens further.
- As the egg continues to cook, all the water will evaporate and become this grainy sweet mix.
- Keep at it patiently and towards the end, add the sugar. You can change the quantity of sugar as per your taste.
- When the milk and water has evaporated and you can see the ghee leaving the sides and the sugar giving a bit of syrupy texture, add the crushed cardamom and mix thouroughly.
- Add the dry fruits and nuts and turn off the heat.
- Serve ande ka halwa hot or warm.
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