Grated Potato Halwa or Aloo Ka Halwa

Grated potato halwa or aloo ka halwa is the easiest halwa I have made. Recently during summer I had visited my paternal grandmother’s village. There I got a chance to taste this delicious sweet prepared by my paternal grandmother and had liked it very much. Since then I was waiting to try this sweet and finally it happened. Its gluten free festive recipe. There are many ways of preparing this and this is one simple method. Do try this and let me know how you liked it.

Here is the recipe

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Karnataka

Preparation time: 15 mins

Cooking time: 35 mins

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

Potato grated (Aloo) – 2 cups

Sugar – 1 cup

Saffron- 15 strands

Ghee – 2 tbsp

Dry fruits chopped (Cashew, raisins, almonds) – ¼ cup

Lemon juice- 1 tsp

Salt a pinch

Water as required

Method:

1. Soak the grated potato in water to prevent browning
2. Soak the saffron in hot water for 15 minutes. Keep this aside for further use.
3. Take a thick bottomed wok and heat ghee.
4. Now add dry fruits and fry until they turn golden. Keep this aside.
5. Take the same wok, add the soaked grated potato, water to soak them. Now close and cook with salt for almost 15 minutes or until they are ¾ th done.
6. Drain the water from cooked grated potato. Add this cooked potato into the wok.
7. Add sugar to the cooked potato and start mixing well.
8. Add soaked saffron strands, mix well until the sugar melts and forms thick syrup consistency.
9. Now add the ghee fried dry fruits along with the ghee.
10. Mix again and cook well on medium flame until it thickens (Mine took around 15 minutes for thickening on medium flame).
11. At the end, add lemon juice and mix well.
12. Serve hot or warm topped with nuts or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

My notes:

Always soak the grated potato in water to remove starch and prevent browning.

Don’t cook the potato completely as this makes them mushy but that doesn’t mean that they need to be under cooked. So care should be taken to cook them properly.

After adding sugar the grated potatoes do not cook, so they should be cooked properly before adding sugar.

Do not boil or cook the halwa after adding lemon juice for long time. As this makes the halwa taste bitter. So care should be taken.

Khova can also be added to make it more rich in taste.