Indian Sweets – Beet Recipes
Festival sweets – Halwa Recipes
Beetroot halwa with a video and step by step written instructions. It is a Indian festival sweet made with beetroot and milk and sugar.
Beetroot halva can be served as a dessert, snack or as a sweet dish with a main meal.
If you like beets, you are bound to love this sweet. You can make this in advance and serve within a week.
Beet halva can be kept in the fridge for 8-10 days so make it and keep it for the busy day when you wont have time to make any sweet or desert.
It is a good party sweet dish as it adds color to your menu. And you know how nutritious beets are for health.
What is Halwa – Halva?
Halva is spelt as halwa too.
- Halva is made with vegetables such as carrot halva, beetroot halva
- Halwa is made with fruits such as Pineapple, banana
- Made with semolina/cream of wheat which is known as Suji/sooji ka halva.
- During festival times like Diwali, it is healthier to have vegetable based sweets such as this halwa made with beetroot or Carrot halwa than other deep fried or plain/white flour(maida) based sweets.
Beetroot halwa ingredients:
- Beet – Fresh beetroot is used. Tender beetroot gives better taste.
- Sweetener – Usually sugar is used but you may also use condensed milk. Or you can use sweeteners such as stevia if you prefer. Honey is not suggested as honey should not be heated.
- Khoya – Khoya is also known as mava or khoa. Khoa is made at home or bought. Khoa is made by heating milk while stirring continuously till it thickens.
- Ghee – Usually we use desi ghee as it gives great flavor. If you are vegan, you may use your choice of oil such as almond oil or olive oil or coconut oil. the flavor will change accordingly.
How to make Beetroot Halwa
Ingredients for beet halwa
- Beet root – 500 gms
- Sugar -1/2 cup, more or less according to your sweet tooth.
- Milk – 1 to 2 cups
- Khoa/khoya or condensed milk or fresh cream -100 gms(optional)
- Ghee – 1 to 2 tbsp
- Cashew nuts, almonds, pista – 4-5 chopped fine
- Raisins – 10-15
- Cardamom powder – 1 teaspoon.
Preparation for making beet halwa:
- Wash the beet roots well.
- Remove skin from the beets and grate with a fine grater. You may grate it using a food processor if you wish.
Cooking method for beetroot halva
- Heat a deep thick bottomed pan.
- Add ghee and grated beetroot.
- Stir fry and cook about 5 minutes till beetroot is a little soft.
- Add milk. Stir and let cook covered on low fire for 5 minutes.
- Remove cover and cook stirring occasionally till the mixture thickens.
- Add sugar. Mix well and cook some more till sugar dissolves and the mixture thickens again.
- Add khoa or condensed milk if you are using that.
- Add chopped nuts, raisins, cardamom powder. Mix well and take off the fire.
- Mix well. Cook for 10 minutes stirring till you get a semi thick consistency. Keep in mind that the mixture will thicken more when it cools.
Tips:
- Beetroot halva is ready to serve. Serve it hot or cold as you like.
- Without refrigeration, it will stay good for 2-3 days. If you are planning to keep it for longer time, store it in the fridge.
- You may fry cashew nuts in ghee if you wish. Frying in ghee gives the nuts a good flavour.
- You may add more milk instead of adding khoya. Adding more milk will increase cooking time but the taste will also be great.
- Adding khoya or cream or condensed milk makes it more rich in taste. You may omit it if you wish or add more if you like the taste.
- Reduce sugar accordingly if you are adding sweetened condensed milk.
- You may roast khoa separately before adding to the beetroot mixture. But it is not a must.
- You may add only one cup of milk and increase the quantity of khoya.
You may visit another Indian sweet recipe, Carrot payasam-Kheer
