Recipe - Halva (Dessert)

1 pt Water
5 tablespoon Oil or ghee
1 ounce Slivered; blanched almonds
11 ounce Finegrained semolina
5 One half ounce Sugar
2 tablespoon Raisins (up to 3)
One fourth teaspoon Finely crushed cardamom
seeds (crushed with a
mortar and pestle)

From Madhur Jaffrey's "Indian Cooking"

Put water to boil in pan. Once it comes to a rolling boil, turn the heat
down to very low and let the pan sit on the back of the cooker. Put the oil
in a large frying pan and set over medium heat. When hot, put in the
almonds. Stir and fry them until they turn golden. Take them out with a
slotted spoon and leave them to drain on kitchen paper.

Put the semolina into the same oil. Turn the heat to mediumlow. Stir and
saute the semolina 810 minutes or until it turns a warm, golden color. DO
NOT LET IT BROWN. Add the sugar and stir it in. Very slowly, begin to pour
the boiling water into the pan. Keep stirring as you do so. Take a good 2
minutes to do this. When all the water has been added, turn the heat to
low. Stir and cook the halva for 55 minutes. Add the raisins, almonds and
crushed cardamom seeds. Stir and cook the halva for another 5 minutes.

Note: Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature. Posted to EATL Digest by
Tania Hewes taniah@NSERV1.CLSI.US.GEAC.COM on