Winter Special - Fresh Pigeon Peas Halwa

Fresh pigeon peas (also called Toor/Tuvar in Hindi and Lilva in Gujarati) is native to the Indian subcontinent. It is traditionally used in savoury dishes like curries, in rice dishes or just boiled, fried and stuffed into kachoris (Lilva ni Kachori in Gujarat). Here's another recipe where I have used fresh pigeon peas)

The inspiration for this recipe came from wanting to explore and experiment with the deep, earthy and fresh flavour of pigeon peas in the form of a sweet dish. I usually have found only savory dishes using pigeon peas and nothing sweet. So here you have it, a fresh, unique dish - Fresh Pigeon Peas Halwa.

             

 Please do let me know what you think of the recipe and do share it with friends and family.

 Peace

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INGREDIENTS (Serves 3)

 For the Halwa

 - 1 cup fresh pigeon peas, washed, soaked in water for 3-4 hours and ground to a coarse paste

 - 1 cup milk

 - 1 cup toasted almonds, chopped

 - 1 cup clarified butter (ghee)

 - 1 tbsp semolina

 - 1 tbsp Gram Flour (besan)

 

For the Spice Mix (all ground to a fine powder)

 - 1/2 cup cardamom pods, roasted till fragrant

 - 2 tbsp desiccated coconut, roasted till brown

 - 8-9 toasted almonds     

 

For the sugar syrup

 - 1 cup water

 - 3/4th cup sugar

 - 4 cardamom pods, crushed lightly to expose the seeds

 - 8-9 seeds fresh pigeon peas

 

How to make Fresh Toor/Pigeon Peas Halwa

• Combine the ingredients for the sugar syrup in a saucepan and bring to a boil and simmer for 5 min and keep aside
• Prepare the spice mix and keep aside to cool
  
• For the halwa, in a deep kadai vessel, at high heat, add 1.5 tbsp ghee and fry the semolina and gram flour till they turn golden brown
• Reduce the flame to a low-medium and add the ground pigeon peas paste and saute till the ghee separates and feels more resistant to stir
• Add 2 tsp of ghee, 1 tsp of the spice mix and stir again till there is resistance again and the colour changes a shade darker
• Strain and add in the sugar syrup and continuously stir to prevent it from sticking to the bottom till the ghee separates and thickens till it's difficult to stir
• Add the milk, 1 tsp of the spice mix and 2 tbsp chopped almonds and repeat the above step
• Garnish with some almonds and pigeon peas that were soaking in the sugar syrup for some extra sweetness
• Enjoy