Nenthirampazham halwa (Banana halwa)

Recipe source: TV show

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 50 minutes
Serves: 16 pieces

Ingredients:
Banana : 4
Sugar: 3/4 cup
Ghee: 1/4 cup
Water: 1/4 cup
Cardamom powder: a pinch
Broken cashews/almonds: 1 tablespoon


Procedure:
Step1:
Chop the bananas into small cubes


Step2:
Mix water and sugar in a non stick pan and boil until the sugar completely dissolves (No need to check for any consistency)


Step3:
Add the chopped bananas and simmer. Stir it for every 5 minutes

Step4:
Once the mixture becomes semi solid add ghee little by little and stir it continuously in low flame until the ghee separates out. Add cardamom powder as well
At this stage the halwa would have turned to a nice reddish brown color and also glossy.(This process might take around 40 minutes)

Stir until the ghee gets separated out as shown

Step5:
Pour the halwa into a greased pan and allow it to cool. Cut into desired shape

Notes

1. Use fully ripe bananas. This recipe technically works for any type of banana. I made this with Karpura vazhai some years back
2. Do not cook the halwa once the ghee has separated.Heating and stirring further will cause the halwa to harden. The consistency should be like jelly and little transparent
3. If by any case the halwa becomes hard, heat it for 10 - 20 seconds in microwave and consume immediately.It will be surely soft
4. Use a non stick pan for the above measurement.For normal pans the amount of ghee has to be increased and also there is an increased effort of continously stirring

Sending this to Kerala Kitchen hosted by Palakkad Chamayal