Mumbai Ice Halwa made in Microwave

Mumbai Ice halwa is also called Bombay halwa or suko halwo too.  Years ago tins of Bombay Halwa,  made by Mohanlal Mithaiwala, were popular at Diwali time and not a lot of people made them at home.  The halwa used to be packed in pretty metal tins and each halwa slice was separated by greaseproof paper. The halwa used to arrive from Mumbai just in time for Diwali.  As a child, I never liked the taste as it was too dry and you could taste the ghee in it.  It really wasn’t my cup of tea, until I tasted the ones made in our mithai shop.  Obviously, home made was fresh and made with freshly make ghee from butter. But again as it was always made in bulk, I never tried to make them at home.  This Diwali, I tried my hand at making these and I would say that it wasn’t bad for the first attempt.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 cup full fat milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup ghee
• pinch of saffron
• handful of sliced almonds and pistachio
• food colour (optional)

Method:

1. Transfer the flour, milk, ghee, sugar, ghee and saffron in a Microwave bowl and mix.  Cook the mixture on high for 2 minute at a time twice; stirring in between. You will see the mixture coming together.  Keep cooking on high for a minute at a time 4 times.  The mixture is now ready to start spreading.

2.  The mixture should be shiny and you should see quite a lot of ghee coating the bowl.  At this stage, you can divide the mixture and add the food colours you wish to use.  I used yellow and red. It looks shiny and you will see quite a lot of ghee coating the bowl.  At this stage, you can divide the mixture and add the food colours you wish to use.  I used yellow and red.

3. Layer a grease proof paper and spread the halwa mixture on this.  Cover with another grease proof paper and spread this as thin as you can using a rolling pin.  Sprinkle the almonds and pistachio slices on the halwa and use a rolling pin to press them down. This does take practice. The thinner halwa is quicker to dry.

4. .Allow this to dry overnight and then slice it into big squares – the way Mohanlal Mithaiwala does.

If you are still thinking about what to cook for Diwali snacks – check out this link.

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