Badam halwa recipe or almond halwa recipe. Utterly rich, delicious and most royal Indian dessert is this badam ka halwa or sweet almond fudge. With just 5 ingredients and 30 minutes of your time, you can make this most sought after badam halwa for Diwali, navtatri etc. Small packets of almond halwa parceled in butter paper makes for an elegant gift for Diwali just like nankhatai. Here is how to make best badam ka halwa recipe at home.
Best Ever South Indian Badam Halwa!
I am a big fan of this south Indian badam halwa, Krishna sweets style to be precise. Super rich, melt in mouth with very slight grainy texture, this almond halwa is delicious with unmistakable flavor.
With a very mild touch of saffron, this almond fudge is one of the truly best culinary delights. If you have tasted this halwa before you know what I mean. Never heard of this sweet before? You should be totally trying this recipe out and I am pretty positive you will be a fan too 🙂
While growing up this badam halwa was a staple sweet made for Diwali. Along with other delicacies like adhirasam, madras mixture, kaju katli, gulab jamun, jalebi, rasmalai, badusha this halwa was also made. While Ashoka or kasi halwa were also prepared we loved this halwa with badam very much. This delicious badam halwa is also prepared for Friday Lakshmi pooja in many homes.
Making Badam ka halwa is really simple and straight forward. You just have to stir continuously and be sure to remove the halwa from flame once the correct consistency is reached.
Serve badam ka halwa as dessert or snack with coffee. This halwa keeps well for 3-4 days in refrigerator. Here I have added little milk but you can easily leave it out. If prepared without milk the shelf life of almond halwa will be more. Read on to know how to make badam ka halwa without milk.
This Badam Halwa Recipe Is
Absolutely flavorful and rich
Best ever recipe for melt in mouth with slightly grainy textured halwa
Absolutely non sticky halwa
Tastes very delicious both warm & at room temperature.
100 % vegetarian
Quick, simple & straight forward recipe.
This is the tried and tested family recipe for making really good badam halwa. We also make carrot halwa, beetroot halwa, Bombay ice halwa and few other halwa recipes for festivals.
Almond Halwa Ingredients
Almonds- To make badam halwa you will first need blanched and peeled almonds. The blanched almonds are ground to a slightly grainy paste and further cooked with sugar.
If you find blanching and peeling almonds difficult, you can use store bought almond meal for this recipe. You will just have to grind it with very little water to get the grainy paste.
Sugar- Sugar is the sweetener we use in this halwa. I have not tried this halwa with jaggery or palm sugar. I suggest you make this halwa with granulated sugar or organic sugar for original taste. Also do not drastically increase or decrease the quantity of sugar in any halwa recipe as it will damage the texture.
Ghee- Ghee or clarified butter is used in good quantity in this recipe. Always use very good quality ghee in any halwa recipe.
Flavoring- My most preferred flavor for this badam halwa is saffron. Saffron apart from adding flavor adds a very nice yellow tinge to the halwa. Usually a pinch of yellow food coloring is added in almond halwa. By using saffron you can avoid food coloring.
Do note that cardamom or rose water is not added in traditional badam halwa recipe. It is just almonds, sugar, ghee and saffron.
How To Make Badam Halwa
1. Take measured badam and soak in hot water for 15-20 minutes. In the meantime soak a fat pinch of saffron in 1/8 cup milk.
Peel the almonds.
2. Grind the almonds with another 1/8 cup milk to a paste, it should be very slightly coarse.
3. Now heat a pan and add 1/2 teaspoon ghee and spread it well in the pan.
4. Add the ground almond paste and measured sugar to the pan.
5. Mix well and cook in lowest flame for few minutes till the sugar starts to melt.
6. Add about 1/4 cup of milk and mix well. Continue to cook in low flame.
7. Now add the saffron soaked milk and mix well. If you feel the mixture is very tight you can add 3-4 tablespoons more milk.
8. Mix well and continue to cook. The mixture will start bubbling now. Cook for few more minutes.
9. By now bubbling would have stopped and mixture will thicken, now start adding ghee. Add 1 tablespoon at a time, once the halwa absorbs the ghee add the next tablespoon.
10. At one point the ghee will float atop and leave the halwa. The whole mixture will start to leave the sides of the pan. This is the correct stage to remove from flame.
11. Now you can add 1 more tablespoon ghee if you wish and mix well. Serve badam halwa piping hot or you can let to thicken a bit and serve as single serving wrapped in a butter paper too.
Tips To Make Best Badam Ka Halwa
- I have used mamra almonds here and I recommend the same. Outside India you can also use california almonds.
- While soaking almonds, do not soak for more than 20 minutes as the almonds will become pasty while grinding resulting in sticky halwa.
- If you want reduce ghee, just reduce it by 1 tablespoon or 2 at the max. If you drastically reduce the ghee the halwa will be very hard once it cools down.
- To make the halwa more rich you can use 1/4 cup cashews along with almonds
- You can also add 2 tablespoons milk powder along with almond paste and sugar.
- To make badam halwa without milk just grind the saffron along with almonds. Add 1 more tablespoon ghee while cooking halwa in place of milk.
- The halwa thickens on cooling. So do not be tempted to cook for long. Once ghee starts to come out from sides, remove it from flame.
More almond recipes:
I hope you will try this badam ka halwa recipe and enjoy as much as we did. P
Badam Halwa Recipe
Badam halwa recipe | Diwali 2015 sweets recipes
1 CUP = 250 ml
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup whole almonds
- 3/4 cup sugar can reduce upto 2 tablespoons
- 1/8 cup cup milk 1/8 cup + 1/4 cup more milk
- Fat pinch of saffron
- 6 tablespoons ghee
Instructions
- Take measured badam and soak in boiling water for 30-40 minutes. Peel the almonds. In the meantime soak a fat pinch of saffron in 1/8 cup milk.
- Grind the almonds with another 1/8 cup milk to a paste, it should be some what coarse.
- Now heat a pan and add 1/2 teaspoon ghee and spread it well in the pan.
- Add the ground almond paste and measured sugar to the pan.
- Mix well and cook in lowest flame for few minutes till the sugar starts to melt.
- Add about 1/4 cup of milk and mix well. Continue to cook in low flame.
- Now add the saffron soaked milk and mix well. If you feel the mixture is very tight you can add 3-4 tablespoons more milk. Mix well and continue to cook. The mixture will start bubbling now. Cook for few more minutes.
- By now bubbling would have stopped and mixture will thicken, now start adding ghee. Add 1 tablespoon at a time, once the halwa absorbs the ghee add the next tablespoon. At one point the ghee will float atop and leave the halwa. The whole mixture will start to leave the sides of the pan. This is the correct stage to remove from flame.
- Now you can add 1 more tablespoon ghee if you wish and mix well. Serve badam halwa piping hot or you can let to thicken a bit and serve as single serving wrapped in a butter paper too.
Notes
- Use good quality ghee, homemade ghee works best for both flavor and taste.
- While soaking almonds, do not soak for more than 20 minutes as the almonds will become pasty while grinding resulting in sticky halwa.
- Ensure you do all the cooking in lowest flame.
- Remove from flame immediately as the halwa starts to leave the sides of the pan, it will thicken as it cools down.
- Use good quality saffron for nice flavor.
Swati says
Wow srikrishna sweets badam halwa 🙂 Thanks for sharing my favorite recipe.