Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Halva Moraitikos -Greek style Semolina Halva

If you thought halva/halwa is an Indian dish then you are wrong.As per wii,Halva has spread throughout Asia and Europe and is a part of several delectable cuisine.The rava kesari of South India has got relatives not just in Northern India(Sooji ka halva) but even in Greece or Azerbaijan etc.Each of these cuisine have own version but basically a halva is a halva and is a delightful hearty dessert mostly rich in fats.

Even in Greece there are several regional versions or versions based on the method of cooking like stove top or oven baked etc.Once such version have tried is the Halva Moraitikos from this site.I am not sure how the name came upon though a google search reveled that Moraitika is a resort in Corfu,Greece.Well,forget how the name came about, the halva was delightful.


Ingredients:
Semolina (Rava/Sooji/Farina): 1/3 cup


Water: 1 cup
Butter: 2 tbsp
Sugar: 7 tbsp+/-


Blanched Almonds: 2 tbsp + chopped

Topping:
Whole Almonds


Cinnamon Powder
Sugar (optional)


Preparation:
In a thick bottomed pan,mix well water,butter and sugar.Stir till the sugar dissolves and bring to boil.Reduce to a simmer and add in semolina to the boiling water stirring well to prevent the formation of lumps.Add little cinnamon powder and chopped blanched almonds and let it simmer till the mix thickens and when the mix pulls away from the sides of the pan remove from the heat. Pour the entire mix into a greased pan and spread it evenly.Let it cool and then mark into squares or choice of shapes.Put a whole almond on each square/shape.


Bake the halva in a preheated oven at 350F for 15 more minutes.You can see the butter bubbling and I suppose this thickens the halva more.

Take out and sprinkle cinnamon and sugar.I actually added little cinnamon while making the halva and so I sprinkled more cinnamon at the end and since The sugar I added was enough for me,I avoided garnishing the halva with sugar.

The halva was sweet,rich and perfect dessert or snack whatever way you chose to serve it and halva is my fifth and final entry to AWED:Greece, an event by DK and hosted by yours truly.

Today is the last day of AWED:Greece officially,but I will be accepting Greek Vegetarian/Vegan entries till 4th April 2010 as I will be publishing the Round up on Monday,5th April 2010.


12 Comments:

Unknown said...

Curry Leaf, great recipe, same ingredients but a different method altogether. Thanks for sharing. I am planning to send something tonight for this content.

Tina said...

Semonila halwa looks yummy yummy...

Nithya said...

Wow.. this is so interesting :)

Priya Suresh said...

Wow greek halwa looks awesome CL...seems our kesari have so many versions huh!!

Simplyfood said...

Greek halwa looks delicious.Its very similar to indian halwa.

anudivya said...

This is totally like our Sooji halwa! Without the kesar color of course. Missed your recipes!!! :(

Cham said...

It is almost like our kesari but this one is baked! Interesting recipe and gorgeous halwa!

Padhu Sankar said...

Halwa looks sp yummy!
http://padhuskitchen.blogspot.com/

SathyaSridhar said...

semolina halwa looks delicious dear,,seems very easy n can have at any time,,,great dessert

Unknown said...

Love your Greek-style semolina halwa..It looks delicious!

Unknown said...

Scrumptious halva.Hope you got my entry dear :D

Aparna S Mallya said...

looks delicious. the almonds on top make the halwa look pretty :)

Thanks for visiting my Blog

/*TYNT script starts here */ /*TYNT ends */