Chana Dal Halwa/Barfi (SNC Challenge)

         

As our SNC Group is very well known among blogger's.Here we get a new Dish as challenge every starting of month from each team.Which makes me quite excited on every 1st day of each month ..Its the 6th consecutive month of challenges and awards ,This time ball dropped in my court,it mean i am gonna be the host on the behalf of North Team of March Challenge.. 
Just like me, Swathi is host from South Team for this month...She challenged us with her interesting Hydrabadi Dum Biryani !!
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March is month of Holi..In UP people celebrate it for full week.Day one people play with colors in morning and from evening to next 5 days people visit each other place and make sure they visit every known person in city. Also,this makes our kitchens very busy There are so many tits-bits which are must on this festivals like Gujhiya,Dahi-bare,Chips,Papads,Khurma (shakkar-pare),Khaste etc etc....!!  Believe me,Our table use to get out of space during these days.

After thinking about many dishes i finally came up with Chana dal Halwa/Barfi.Its basically my Mom's recipe which she got from her birthplace (Lucknow).. means its from Mughal cuisine which makes it high on ghee and sinfully tasty  !!

Its really easy and need only few ingredients(easily available too)...You can make them in advance.If serving as Halwa,just warm them at the time of serving OR simply make Barfi out of it and store in fridge.It goes well for 3-4 days if stored air tight container in fridge.

Edit: as some of our friends are getting confused with the dal so here is the pic...hope this will help 

Chana Dal

INGREDIENTS

1 Cup Chana Dal(Chickpea/Bengal gram lentil )
3/4 Cup Ghee
1/2 Cup Sugar
2.5 Cup Whole Milk
2 Cardamom powder
6-7 Almonds (chopped)


DIRECTIONS

• Wash and Soak dal in 2 Cup water for 4 hours.
• Boil the soaked dal in 1 Cup of water until its just done(2 whistle on high heat than 5 minutes simmering on low heat)
• Remove extra water if any.let it cool down.
• Mash the boiled dal with back of spoon to make grainy paste.
• Heat ghee in heavy bottom pan.Add mashed dal and fry on medium heat 15 minutes.by this time raw smell will vanish and nutty aroma will spread around.Also you will able to see ghee at edges separating    with dal.
• Now add 1/2 Cup milk and fry on high heat till it get dry.Again add 1/2 cup milk and fry.
• Repeat this until all milk is used.
• Finally mix in cardamom powder,sugar with chopped almonds and fry on high heat for another 5 minutes.
• Serve hot or simply spread on plate and sprinkle some extra chopped nuts.Let it cool down  completely.Cut in desired shape,transfer in air-tight container and store in fridge.

#  You can use blender to mash boiled dal,but make sure you don't add any water. Also it must be grainy(not paste) after blending.(just blend for 2-3 seconds)
##  Don't leave pan unattended otherwise mixture will stick at bottom.
###   DON'T add all milk in one shot,it will make your halwa very soggy and will loose its nutty texture too.
####  You can replace ghee with half oil half ghee.
#####  If you want to add Mava(khoya).Fry it before adding.
###### DON'T use Besan instead of dal if you want to real taste.

Have doubts>Just drop a comment or mail me on myheaven30@gmail.com,i ll try to clarify ASAP