Badam Almond Halwa Indian Dessert Recipe

Gather the ingredients.

Put the almonds in a deep bowl and add enough hot water to them to cover them. Leave them to soak for 3 to 4 hours.

Once the almonds have soaked, remove their skins. To do this, press each almond between a thumb and forefinger and slide your thumb forward. This will make the almond slip out of its skin. Do this for all the almonds. Discard the skins.

Reserve a few almonds for garnishing. Slice them into slivers and set aside. Put the remaining almonds into a blender and add the milk to them. Blend the mixture to form a coarse paste (the same consistency as sooji/rawa).

Set up a deep, heavy-bottomed pan on medium heat. When it is hot, add 3 tablespoons of ghee to it.

When the ghee melts, add the almond-milk mixture to it. Stir well.

Now add the sugar to the mixture and stir to mix well.

Add the saffron strands and mix well.

Cook the mixture over medium heat, constantly stirring to prevent it from scorching or burning. It can happen very easily, so be extra careful. Stir constantly. (At one stage, as the liquid in the mixture begins to dry up, it will bubble and splash, so be very careful while stirring as droplets can burn you badly. It might help to wear an oven glove/ mitt to protect your hand from the splatters during this stage.)

Once the splattering stops (a sign that the halwa is almost done), add the remaining 2 tablespoons of ghee and the food coloring and stir well.

Keep cooking the mixture until most of the moisture in it dries up. It will start to come away from the sides of the pan now, and you will also see a small amount of the ghee beginning to separate from it.

You will know the halwa is ready when it no longer sticks to the pan at all. In fact, when you look at the bottom of the pan, it will be clean.

Take the halwa off the heat and spoon it onto a flat platter or plate to cool.

Serve warm or at room temperature in bowls, garnished with a pinch of thin almond slivers and the cardamom.