Moong Dal Halwa (vegan)
Moong Dal Halwa is a delicious and festive sweet from North India. It is a rich, creamy pudding-like dessert. I like Moong Dal Halwa, but it is a long process and for me stirring the halwa was becoming difficult. While trying to make the process easy I also decided to make it vegan. I was happily surprised by the result. This is a must to try the recipe. This recipe will serve 4.
- ½ cup split yellow Moong dal washed
- ¼ cup grapeseed oil is my preferred oil
- ½ cup sugar
- 1/8 tsp cardamom powder
- few strands saffron optional
- 2 ½ cups water
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Clean the moong dal rubbing with a moist towel.
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Boil water and sugar in a pan over medium heat, for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Add cardamom powder and saffron set aside.
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In a heavy bottom frying pan, roast moong dal over medium-low heat. Keep stir-frying till it’s light brown in color and becomes aromatic. Make sure to cook on low heat otherwise dal will not be toasted inside. This will take about 8 minutes. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature.
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Once dal comes to room temperature, grind it to a powder lightly grainy.
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In a heavy bottom frying pan, add oil and roasted moong dal powder, mix it well, and again roast over medium low heat for about 3 minutes. Dal will become dark in brown. Notes: After adding the syrup color will become a little lighter.
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Add syrup to the dal, a little at a time. The syrup will splatter as you are adding syrup, keep stirring and mix it well, cook for 2-3 minutes. Halwa should be the texture of soft sticky dough.
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Serve the halwa warm.