Halva recipe

Eastern sweetness called halva occupies a leading place in the countries of the East, and in other countries it does not lag behind the popularity of chocolate, cakes and pastries. There are several varieties of such a dessert: sunflower, pistachio, peanut and sesame. These are the most basic types, and manufacturers also produce halva in chocolate, or with the addition of cocoa, raisins and candied fruits.

How to cook halva

For many years, the recipe for oriental sweetness was a secret, passed down only from generation to generation among those who were directly involved in the production of halva. The delicacy is prepared by whipping caramel syrup with grated nuts or seeds. In industrial production, manufacturers add a natural foaming agent.

Seeds and nuts are initially cleaned of peels and impurities due to friction against the walls of a special container. Then they are peeled off and washed with water. Next, heat treatment is carried out - the raw materials are dried and fried at temperatures up to 300 degrees. Oils and beneficial properties remain, but moisture evaporates.

Using an extruder, seeds or nuts are ground to a pasty state 2-4 times. In large industries, caramel is made from water, granulated sugar and molasses. It is needed for the plasticity and sweetness of the future halva. The molasses is boiled to a thick and viscous consistency, adding a foaming agent at the end.

After that, the nut or sunflower mass is mixed with caramel and kneaded with his own hand or with the help of a special mixing machine to a solid and crumbly state. After that, the finished product is packaged in packages.

Halva ingredients

Initially, halva was made from roasted and ground nuts or sesame seeds with the addition of a small amount of honey. Occasionally, chicken eggs were added to the mass for the airiness of the halva. Then they began to replace honey with granulated sugar, making sugar syrup from it and adding it to the main ingredient. It became easier, cheaper and more affordable, since honey was not cheap at all. Nuts were also expensive, so they began to be replaced with sunflower seeds, which became the primary reason for the mass production of sunflower halva. And nut varieties have become just varieties from the main, sunflower halva.

To date, the composition of the sweets also includes various foaming agents, most often licorice root or marshmallow root. Modern manufacturers of oriental sweets add candied fruits, raisins, cocoa, vanilla, chocolate to halva. Before purchasing, you should carefully study the packaging and composition. Natural halva is stored for no more than 60 days, if the shelf life is specified for more than two months, then most likely the manufacturers add harmful additives and preservatives there, which is not very useful for the body.

Halva recipe

An easy recipe for sunflower halva

What is necessary:

• 300 g of peeled raw sunflower seeds;
• a couple of spoons of liquid honey.

How to cook:

1. Warm up a dry frying pan, put the seeds.
2. Stirring constantly, fry for no more than a minute.
3. Pour the seeds into a blender and grind, then continue beating until the mass becomes wet.
4. Add honey and beat a little more.
5. Sculpt balls, cubes, cubes, or simply transfer the mass to a container. Put in a cold place for 2-3 hours.

Peanut sweetness

What is necessary:

• by the glass peanuts and dates;
• half a glass of honey;
• a glass of water;
• a couple of spoons of raisins.

How to cook:

1. Remove the pits from the dates and steam with water until softened, then grind into a puree mixture.
2. Grind peanuts with a blender, mix with dates and knead.
3. Pour honey and some raisins, mix.
4. Form a briquette from the mass, or simply put it in a plastic form, close it and put it in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.

Milk pistachio halva

What is necessary:

• 1.5 glasses of peeled pistachios;
• a couple of large spoons of milk;
• half a glass of granulated sugar;
• 5 tablespoons of butter.

How to cook:

1. Pour boiling water over the nuts for 20-30 minutes.
2. Grind with a blender adding milk.
3. Add granulated sugar and mix thoroughly.
4. Melt the butter in a frying pan, put the nut mass, and, stirring, cook for a quarter of an hour until thick.
5. Transfer to a cup and leave to cool.

Halva with cognac

What is necessary:

• a couple of glasses of sunflower seeds, peeled and not fried;
• 4 tablespoons of flour and granulated sugar;
• a pinch of salt;
• half a glass of hot water;
• a couple of spoons cognac, or rum;
• 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil without aroma.

How to do:

1. Warm up a dry frying pan and fry the seeds on it for literally 1-1.5 minutes.
2. Grind the seeds with a blender.
3. In the same skillet, fry the flour until a pleasant golden hue.
4. Add granulated sugar, salt and water to the flour, mix thoroughly and put on the ground seeds.
5. Pour in butter and alcohol and beat a little.

Peanut halva

What is necessary:

• a bag of vanillin;
• 1.5 glasses of flour;
• a glass of granulated sugar;
• a couple of glasses of roasted peanuts;
• a third of a glass of water.

How to cook:

1. Pass the nuts through a meat grinder or blender.
2. Fry flour until golden brown.
3. Make a syrup from water and granulated sugar.
4. Combine flour, vanillin, chopped nuts, butter.
5. Pour in syrup and knead.
6. Transfer to container and cool.