harey chane ka halwa | an unusual dessert with tender green garbanzo beans

We have been on a hara chana high for sometime. It was the easy and yet exotic option for quick snacks and ghugnis all through this winter.  I was developing a lot of non vegetarian recipes for a brand and was fed up with not having my own choice of food for a while. I always love cooking my food on my own whims, my own 'flavours for the day' and when I have to work on something which is fixed, I feel a bit suffocated in terms of food choices. I don't know if you relate to it or not, but give me the fanciest of foods on a day when I want a simple khichdi, I will not be happy eating them. But that is another story.

There is harey chane ka halwa to cheer up. This harey chane ka halwa is mostly set and cut like barfi or fudge. One of the most surprising flavours trust me, and so brightly coloured.

Some of the seasons fresh produce gave me hope and I enjoyed some quick foods of my choice as well.
Harey chane ka halwa looks and sounds tricky but it incredibly simple and quick.

Hara chana, fresh green peas and some thukpa and thenthuk type soups were a great relief as they take minimal effort to be cooked. I made hara chana jhal mudi many a times for a tea time snack and loved it. But then a friend from Banaras reminded me of this hare chane ka halwa and I got transported to the older days when we never counted our desserts.

Not that we ate too much desserts as a family but we usually had everything we wanted. I think we never knew so much abundance of all things super sweet vying for attention all the time. Home made real food desserts were the norm and we grew up to become fit healthy individuals. Cakes were very occasional even if we had started baking at younger age, all of us siblings used to have so much fun in the kitchen. This harey chane ka halwa brought back all those memories.

This halwa would remind you of the halwas of Kerala and Tamilnadu (probably other states of south India as well) where they make pineapple and ripe jackfruit halwa and dehydrate it so much that it make a nice dense cake that can be sliced like karachi halwa. But this harey chane ka halwa is not that dehydrated and doesn't keep well at room temperature. This is something to be had the same day or to refrigerate and consume the next day.

ingredients
(makes 9 large squares, or 6-8 servings)
hara chana (tender green garbanzo beans) 200 gm
pistachios 25 gm (you can use cashew too)
sugar 25-50 gm as per taste
ghee 30 gm or 2 tbsp
chopped pistachio for garnish

Some people add khoya to this halwa but I like it without khoya. If you want to add khoya, you can make instant khoya in microwave by following this recipe.

procedure

Make a powder of pistachios first, add the hara chana in the blender and make a smooth paste of the two.

Heat ghee in a kadhai and pour the paste in it. Stir continuously for about 5 minutes and you would see how the green paste starts getting smooth and a bit gummy.

Add the sugar and stir more to cook further. The halwa will start looking shiny and sticky. This is the time you pour it into a deep plate or a square dish of suitable size. Spread it in even layer, thickness can be of your choice. Mine was 1 cm thick layer. Sprinkle chopped pistachios over it and press with your fingers so they embed well.

Let it cool in refrigerator for an hour or so, cut squares and serve as required.

Alternately, you can serve the halwa hot or warm like gajar ka halwa.

The taste is rich and nutty and very very delectable. This halwa will be one of those good looking desserts you can serve for formal meals as well.

Let me know if you try this harey chane ka halwa or call it harey chane ki barfi. You can make such a halwa with green peas too, but the taste will be a bit different as peas don't have that nuttiness that hara chana lends to this halwa. I hope you get hara chana in your part of the world.

Dawat-e-Awadh ; some comforting flavours from the fine cuisine

When one talks about Dawat-e-Awadh, be assured it is mostly about non vegetarian food. Awadhi cuisine is either mughlai which is quintessentially non vegetarian or it is Bramhin cuisine which includes loads of milk products, vegetables, lentils and desserts and can include or exclude onion and garlic. You would find a vast variety of koftas, pasandas, kormas and pulaos in bramhin vegetarian cuisine that has a clear influence of mughal food of Awadh. But then there is some more variety like Tahiri and khichdi, daal and rice, pooris and kachoris, curries like nimona and tawa fries, miloni subzi,  gatte, kheer and a wide array of mithais etc that are essentially the vegetarian food of the Gangetic plains. 

There is a whole word of Bramhin vegetarian food from Awadh but today I am talking about the royal mughlai food that is so synonymous with Awadh and is considered the root stock of all mughlai cuisine offshoots around India. Mughlai food is very very different in these regions of India and Awadhi is subtle, aromatic and rich with milk products and nuts along with saffron and flower essences, supposedly an influence the Mughals took from the Bramhins of the Gangetic plains, not sure about the influences but the result is history.

We got to taste some good Awadhi food at Cafe Uno, Shangri-La's Hotel here in New Delhi. We liked a few dishes there and the taste still lingers on.

The best thing was the Nawabi Tangdi. A drumstick of chicken stuffed with chopped nuts and khoya and then grilled in tandoor, wrapped with foil. Chef Anwar Ahmed and Chef Abhinandan Singh told us that they have created flavours that are essentially Awadhi but have used modern cooking techniques and presentation to suit the requirements. The result was good as I witnessed. I would definitely be trying the flavours of this stuffed tangdi in my own kitchen. 

Khoya is a favourite ingredient of the region and lends a nice sweetness to a dish and this Nawabi Tangdi was a good example of how Awadhi cooks meld the flavours of spices and milk products along with nuts to create magic.

We liked the Mahi Tikka Chutney wala and it was really good too. A river fish grilled with a smear of green chutney. The Awadh ka Malai Murgh was succulent and soft as the name suggests and was really creamy too. Tender boneless thigh pieces done right.

What stumped me among starters was a nice Vegetarian Galaouti Kabab. Who would think a vegetarian galouti kabab can be nice tasting. It had the right texture and a really nice taste too. I finished the one on my plate unexpectedly. 

Alu nazakat was avoidable, vegetarians might like it. Khumbi pyaz was nice but nothing notable. But vegetarians have a really good option in Mirchon Wala Paneer.

This is something very intriguing, a paneer dish cooked with pickled stuffed red chillies. I loved it. But the addition of bell peppers was unnecessary. I would get rid of them when I try this recipe in my own kitchen. Yes I am doing that very soon.

Nargisi kofta was nicely done. The flavors of seekh kababs that we get in Delhi more than awadhi I would say, but really a nice kofta curry.

This Murgh Shameena looks beautiful on the table. With soft iceberg like egg white poached meringues floating in a white creamy gravy, this dish may become a conversation point. The chicken and the gravy are nice too. 

I liked the flaky crisp parathas too, tandoor baked rightly and very good accompaniment to everything we tasted. We did not have any space for desserts, they have some phirni, kheer and kulfi etc on the menu and we decided to share a paan kulfi. Their paan kulfi comes from Kuremal in purani dilli and it is as good as it can be. We did end up having a few bites even after being stuffed to the gills.

I have seen some nice dehydrated paan at Rupak stores and might be one of the first kulfis to be tried this summer. I wouldn't mind some nice paan kulfi even now. It has been some time since I had a nice paan, some kulfi might work fine.