BREAD HALWA (Bread Pudding)!!!!!

'Halwa' the very word is mouth watering. But during childhood the only halwa I knew was that of Mangalore. The Mangaluru Halwa. The hard varieties. Flavors like banana halwa, Bombay halwa, godhi halwa with nutty garnishing, were the only pictures of halwa I had tasted.

But after my acquaintance with Kuku (now my hubby), I learnt that even the "Ksheera" what we called, at Mangalore, popularly known as "Kesaribath" at Bangalore, was also called as sooji halwa. And many more puddings prepared similarly were called as the "respective ingredient halwa", such as the Gaajar ka Halwa ( Carrot Halwa), Lauki ka Halwa (Bottle Gourd Halwa), Moong Dal Halwa (Split Green gram dal Halwa), etc.,etc.,. That sure gives a picture of Halwa Mela!

One such Halwa is the Bread Halwa. I still remember, the restaurant at ITPL, "SINDBAD". This was when I worked for AOL, Pvt. India Ltd., we had our team lunch at this restaurant. I simply loved the Moong Dal Halwa that they served for the buffet lunch. I always looked forward for those team lunches, just to devour this halwa. They served it with ice cream. One day I decided that me & my hubby would have our lunch together at this place. And the day we had our lunch, the restaurant served bread halwa with ice cream. Both of us relished this dessert to the core. Some days later, I even took away a parcel of this halwa home, & devoured it. DIVINE!!!

And this was one preparation that we never forgot & never will. Whenever we had a craving for a sweet dessert, we just reminisced this halwa. That was when we decided that it was high time we tried it at home. We did & voila!!!!! It was a hit at home. For almost all special occasions, I landed up preparing this halwa. Even otherwise I would prepare it & even take a take away for my mom when I visited her. She sincerely devours it. She would serve a small bowl for everyone at home & then, you would never see it back. It would go underground. Then my mom would relish it alone, every now & then, till the last bit. :-)))

My brother (Amrith), got married recently. Now my mom has her newly wedded daughter in-law (Jyothi) with her. Last week it was her first birthday at her in-laws after wedding. I had prepared bread halwa, as a part of the sumptuous birthday lunch. After the lunch I left to my place & rest of the guests went home too. My mom still had 3/4 of the halwa with her. As she went in & out of the kitchen, she kept nibbling at the halwa. She also found that Jyothi did that too. Next moment she hid the halwa container. None of them could have more of it. Next morning they found out that the halwa was consumed completely by mom "THE HALWA CHORNI". My new sister in-law, asked me to prepare it again so that she could devour her share to the core.

Laugh Out Loud!!!!!! ऐसे ऐसे तो हलवा के किस्से हैं हमारे घर में. (Aise Aise Tho Halwa Ke Kisse Hain Hamare Ghar Mein)

Ingredients:

Bread Loaf - 1
Milk - 1/2 liter
Cashew nuts - 100 gm
Raisins - 25 gm
Sugar - 150 gm (1 cup)
Ghee - 100 gm

Method:

Tear the bread loaf into quarter a slice.

Boil the milk.



Now heat ghee in a wok.

Then add the crumbled bread & stir fry. Once the bread crumbs soak the entire amount of ghee & turns golden brown in color, add the cashews & raisins & stir fry.

P.S. you can also fry the cashews & raisins separately & then add it to the bread crumbs.

Once the cashews & raisins turn golden brown, add the boiled milk. Keep stirring as the milk would start throwing out. Mix well & keep stirring for 2 minutes even after the milk has been absorbed completely.

Once the bread looks dry, add the sugar & stir it well for at least a minute. And turn of the flame. Once the sugar has been absorbed, you are ready to relish the yum Bread Halwa.

P.S. It would taste best when it is relished hot.

Once you have prepared this do not forget to lemme know ;)

I have kinda re-posted this very old post from my archival..... But just updating better pics, of course.....

Sending this as my entry to Nivedita's CELEBRATE SWEETS~HALWA event..... Thanks to Jagruti for letting me know of this celebration.... It feels great to celebrate INDIA.... in all respects..... & Food is an integral part of the Colors Of India..... :)

Ha! That reminds me of the theme for June ATCs which was Ethnic India..... & Here are my creations portraying the ethnicity...... Do take a peek :-) @ HASTKALA!!!!!

That is it for now..... Will be back soon again.....

UNTIL NEXT, KEEP THE FAITH!!!!