Mong Dal Halwa/Katli!

Ingredients

Mong Dal (Green gram)- 3 cups

Suji(Semolina)- 1 cup(optional)

Sugar-4-5 cups

Kishmish(Raisans)-10-15

Small Cardomom seeds-4-5

Cocunut (Dry )-1

Almonds, Cashew, etc (optional)

Chironji(melon seeds)-10-15

Khoya/Malai (optional)

Milk-2-3 cups

Water-1 cup for syrup and 4-5 cups for soaking dal

Kevda- few drops

Ghee

Recipe

1. Soak mong dal in water overnight in a bowl ( or 2-3 hours atleast).

2. Strain water from the dal.

3. Put it in a cooker with milk enough to cover the dal and then cover the lid to let it give out 2-3 whistles(about 5-10 minutes).

4. Take it out and if u want u can remove the crumbles and soften it.

5. Take about 2-3 cooking spoon of ghee in a kadai and let it heat.

6. Saute some suji in a kadai till it turns golden brown and let out a distinct smell and then mix dal in it and saute it nicely till it turns golden brown and leaves out a distinct smell. If u want to make with ghee once can again saute with about 2 katori ghee. You can also add grated cocunut, chironji, malai and other nuts in it at this time.

7. In another utensil, heat 1 cooking spoon of ghee and put raisins in it so that they swell. Also add elaichi seeds at this time and immediately add sugar and 1 cup water so that raisins don't get burned. Let the syrup cook till sugar get mixed with water. Cook it for 5-7 minutes.

8. Switch on the flame of the kadai and pour this hot syrup in it and saute it at fast speed. Make sure no lumps are formed and remove them if they do. Keep doing it till the mixture becomes too heavy to be mixed. Pour few drops of kevda at this time.

9. If you want to have halwa , its ready to be eaten hot.

10. Chances are there that this halwa would not freeze into katli as mong dal doesn't soak water. So one can mix it with chana dal(bengal gram) or suji in equal quantities or more than half chana dal to make it into a katli.

11. Take a dry flat platter(Thali) and moisten it with little ghee. To make the katli pour the whole kadai on a flat plate where to freeze it. Flatten the surface with hands and let it cool for some hours.

12. Once the katli becomes cold , cut it into squares and then let it harden for some hours . The katli should be cut before it hardens as it would not be able to be cut after that.

Mong dal halwa tastes awesome when eaten mixed with vanilla ice cream!

Variations

1. Suji and besan katli can be made in similar way. The process is same since step 5. Take equal amounts of suji and half of besan and take sugar as much as both. Eg. Suji-2 cups,Besan-1 cups and Sugar-3 cups. Suji katli doesn't requires khoya but requires 1 cup of milk to be poured once the syrup is poured in suji as it soakes easily. There is no need to add extra nuts in it like almond and cashew. Suji katli hardens immediately so cut it immediately and then remove from platter after few minutes and store in a box.

2. Suji and besan halwa is made in same way. Just add 4 cups of water for every cup of suji. and saute with 2 cups of ghee

3. If u want you can make plain suji katli and suji halwa leaving out besan.

4. Chana dal Katli are made in the same way and usage of suji is optional in it due to water soaking qualities of chana. But I mostly use suji for better taste

4. Suji katli are harder than mong dal katli.

Mong Dal Halwa