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Holi Special!!!
An Indian version of Tahini Halwa The original recipe calls for Honey, Olive Oil and Vanilla but I have replaced with our own Sugar, Ghee and cardamom combination !!!
Tahini is Sesame mix, Sesame seeds are crushed with olive oil and used in cooking especially in the Middle east.
When I first experimented, I was misguided with the sweet proportion, It was too sweet. And I also had a trial of adding crushed sesame seeds without the addition of ghee… The consistency of the sugar syrup was thick and it was difficult to mix the dry powder to get without any lumps. I tried my level best to break the tiny pockets of air trapped inside but was a tough task as the sugar syrup was speeding up to the solid state. So I then realised the basic concept of the tahini -sesame oil mixture, it needs a free flowing fluid to get get gelled up with the sryup. And another point to be noted that the temperature of tahini mixture should be above to the room temperature, if not the the syrup temperature falls down creating a very flaky burfis. The soft ball consistency of the sugar syrup may go upto to hard ball, but care should be taken while mixing and spreading as the time is less for the actions. The syrup gets solidified in no time,
Usually sesame seed balls are prepared during certain festive season or as a snack. Now a days we do get in market, but nothing substitutes what is done at home, What do you say??
Ingredients
1½ Cups Sesame Seeds
1 Cup Sugar
½ Cup Ghee
5 Cardamons
15 Pistachos
5 Almonds
Method
1. Dry Roast Sesame seeds.
2. After it cools down to room temperature, grind in a blender. Next Add melted ghee to the dry powder and grind to a fine paste. Crush cardamoms and pistachios.
3. Now make sugar syrup by adding ½ quantity of water with respect to the sugar. Let it boil it till attains to soft ball consistency.
4. When the sugar syrup is in sticky consistency, heat the sesame mixture in a double boiler for just a couple of minutes so that it is higher than the room temperature.
5. When sryup is done, switch off the stove and add the sesame paste, crushed cardamons, pistachios and mix it thoroughly.
6. Pour the mixture into the tray lined with parchment paper. Spread out the mixture and immediately cut into pieces.
7. Grate almonds on the top..
Refrigerate for 3 hours and serve..
Jotting
Don’t roast sesame seeds for too long as the oil will start to ooze out.. Remove from heat when it starts to splutter.
Ghee can be used sparingly if you can manage to mix the sesame powder without lumps.
Transfer and spread the hot mixture immediately to the tray as the setting time is too short.
I have used one cup of sugar in this recipe, you can adjust the sugar quantity according to your sweet tooth.
Better Use baking/parchment sheets for spreading the mixture instead of using a ghee coated tray. The slices will be flaky and crumble even a bit of force is given while lifting from the base.
