Tirunelveli Halwa

Tirunelveli - The City of Culture 

Tirunelveli Halwa - How to get it right? 

If you know anything about the city of Tirunelveli, you will know that it is known for the Tirunelveli Halwa, a sweet made there. If you like to drive, this 700-kilometre drive from Chennai to Tirunelveli is for you. This town, about 85 kilometres and an hour's drive from Kanyakumari is known for its famous sweet Tirunelveli Halwa from Iruttukadai (dark shop). Watch our space at Tirunelveli Today if you want to know about the history of Tirunelveli Halwa.

What Is the Uniqueness of Tirunelveli Halwa?

Tirunelveli halwa is so delicious because

• It is prepared with palm jaggery or karupatti (I have not used it in my preparation)

• It is made from Thamiraibharani river water (which has a high concentration of copper content)

• Hot portions are made on a non-stick base.

• Because the ghee used is unique to the place it is created, it is more flavorful.

List of Ingredients to Make Tirunelveli Halwa

The ingredients for this recipe are listed below.

• 1 cup cracked wheat

• 3 cups sugar, divided into 2 1/2 and 1/2 cups.

• For 1 cup of wheat, use 4 cups of water.

• Pre-heated cashews in ghee

• 100% Ghee

Instructions on How to Make Tirunelveli Halwa

Now all you have to do is follow the instructions below exactly as stated:

1. Add enough water to the non-stick pan to take a cup of cracked wheat.

2. Keep it soaking for exactly 8 hours.

3. Start pounding the wheat with your hands in the morning to extract the wheat milk it contains.

4. Refresh the wheat with water, then mash it once more so that it releases the milk once more, filling the second glass. Do not forget to pass it through the strainer and into the glass.

5. Allow the white wheat milk to sink to the bottom of the two glasses, leaving them in their current state for two to three hours. When you are done, and the water is clear at the top, drain the water while leaving the white sediment in the glass.

6. Then, fill both glasses with 4 cups of water (2+2) and let it sit a little longer. This step is crucial to remove the smell of raw wheat from the preparation.

7. Some cashews must be lightly roasted in ghee for later use.
   Place 2 1/2 cups of sugar in the larger container and 1/2 cup in the smaller.

8. Add one tablespoon of water to the 1/2 cup of sugar and one cup to the 2 1/2 cups of sugar.

9. The smaller container should be heated until the sugar caramelizes. The sugar will begin to boil and bubble as a sign of this. As soon as it turns pale yellow, turn the heat down, stir it, and watch it closely for signs of browning.

10. To examine the colour, you may even need to remove the item from the stove from time to time.

11. Bring the 2 1/2 cups of sugar and 1 cup of water to a boil simultaneously. Keep the heat low first, and whisk the mixture with a spatula. Pour the 1/2 cup of liquid caramelized sugar into the larger bowl after the liquid sugar has reached a respectable temperature.

12. To prevent the sugar syrup from hardening and to stick to the walls of the smaller container, which would be difficult to clean, add a little new water and reheat.

13. The larger container should now be shaken until the sugar syrup thickens.

14. Add the leftover wheat milk from the glasses to the container once the sugar syrup has thickened to a respectable level and is still stir-able.

15. From here, the entire stirring process will take 1.5 hours; It is quite laborious, but it is worth it.

16. Ghee must now be added to this mixture.

17. Add 1 tablespoon of ghee every 5 to 7 minutes until you notice the ghee is absorbed. Ghee will often be easily absorbed in quantities of 7-8 tablespoons.

18. The mixture starts to thicken at some point, but you still can't pick up large chunks with the spatula. Take care to beat it properly, turning as you bring the bottom sections to the top.

19. Keep stirring while adding 1 tablespoon of ghee every 5 minutes or so. As we go on, the mixture begins to show more and more threads and a glassy-sweet structure.

20. The mixture is ready for the cashews when it begins to solidify to the point where substantially larger portions can be removed with a spatula than before.

21. After turning off the heat and letting the liquid cool down, take a break from all the stirring.

22. Serve the halwa in glasses or on banana leaves. In your mouth, the halwa melts!

The Takeaway

If you like reading this, try it out at home and tell us how you convinced those around you. Learn more about the popular Tirunelveli Halwa by logging onto our website Tirunelveli Today.

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