My 316th recipe, “ Corn Flour Halwa | Karachi Halwa | Bombay Halwa Recipe ”. A super silky, soft and melt in your mouth Indian dessert. It is quite the popular Indian sweet dish. A dessert which combines just a few basic pantry ingredients.
And a pretty straight forward method to come out with an outstanding recipe, perfect for special occasions. Refer to the making video on my youtube channel here.
I am now into the habit of posting an easy halwa recipe whenever there is a milestone post in my blog. I started it as fun with Tirunelvi Halwa being the 100th Post and then the last one was Cherry Halwa for the 300th Post.
Today is certainly not a milestone from the recipe count perspective. However, I got myself a new induction cooktop and a proper camera stand to capture better recipe videos.
Today was the first time, I was trying that setup for a recipe. Hence decided to start off with a traditional recipe. One which is special and an ideal Halwa recipe. One which needs minimal ingredients to prepare and not much time.
While I am a big fan of Indian desserts now, it was not the case when I was young. I used to gorge upon countless chocolates and candies, but was a very picky eater when it came to Indian sweets.
To start with, I was only attracted to a few Indian sweets which were colorful. Specifically those made during various Indian Festivals.
So whenever my mom took me along to a sweets store, I would either choose the badam halwa or colored mini rasgullas or the corn flour halwa. Sold in bright green / orange / red colors, wrapped up in individual plastic wraps, the corn flour halwa was always an attractive bet for me
Corn Flour Halwa
The only qualms I have with the halwa sold in store is that, it is made with oil and slightly bouncy in texture. I love my Corn Flour Halwa to be flavored with ghee instead and with a comparatively softer texture. Something which holds up like a jelly, transparent to the right degree and just literally melts in your mouth. This CornFlour Halwa recipe I am posting today checks all the right boxes.
The recipe for corn flour halwa is pretty simple. It is just about cooking the corn flour in a sugar syrup until it reaches the right halwa consistency. Having said that, the tricky part of this recipe is to get the halwa glossy.
If you miss out on the right texture, the halwa would still taste delicious but it would appear gloppy. That is exactly what happened during the first 2 attempts I made to recreate this halwa recipe for the blog.
It took me a little time trying to figure out what went wrong. I was pretty sure that there was nothing wrong with the quantities or procedure.
Only then I realized that the Corn Flour sold here in US is different in texture to what is sold in India and elsewhere. It is slightly coarse in texture and when I used it for the halwa recipe, it was the primary culprit in turning the halwa gloppy.
I tried swapping out Corn Flour with Corn Starch. Corn Starch was more smoother in texture and worked out perfectly for this recipe. Triumph at last 😉
The perfect Bombay Karachi Halwa recipe to celebrate any special occasion. Or for making during the festival season. Even doubles up as an easy Diwali sweet or festive occasions 🙂
Step wise Instructions
Corn Flour Halwa
Youtube Video
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Corn Starch | Corn Flour (refer notes)
- 3+2 Cups Water
- 3 Cups Sugar
- 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
- ⅛ tsp Orange Food Color
- ¾ Cup Ghee
- ¼ tsp Cardamom Powder
- Sliced / Chopped Nuts - as needed
Instructions
- First add the corn starch to a large mixing bowl, add 3 Cups of water and mix well until the corn starch is dissolved. You will have a corn flour slurry now.
- Heat a pan in medium flame and add the remaining water and sugar. Stir well until the sugar is dissolved. Add the lemon extract, mix well and continue cooking until the water starts to boil.
- Once the water comes to a rolling boil, add the cornflour mixture to the pan. Mix well. Turn the flame to low-medium.
- Now, add the the food color and stir continuously. The mixture will start to thicken.
- Once the mixture is thick and sticky, start adding the ghee. Add 1 Tbsp at a time, mix well until the corn mixture absorb the ghee. Then add the next Tbsp of ghee. Keep cooking until the ghee is no more absorbed by the halwa. The halwa should now look glossy, transparent and does not stick to sides of the pan. You can use the rest of the ghee for some other recipe.
- Now, turn off the flame, add the cardamom powder and chopped nut. Mix well.
- Transfer the mixture to a greased pan / plate. I used a 9X9 baking pan. Leave it to cool completely for 2 to 3 hrs to room temperature
- After the halwa is set, use a sharp knife to loosen the edges and transfer the halwa to a plate. Cut it into cubes.
- Enjoy.
Notes | FAQ
Arunkumar says
Can you tell us recipe of Tirunelveli Halwa recipe
.
revifood says
Hi Arun it already available in posts. You can use the search.
Aarush Sharma says
Nice! Thanks for sharing such a delicious recipe with us.
revifood says
Thanks Aarush 🙂
Manikanta says
Is It necessary To Add 3 cups of sugar to bombay halwa?
revifood says
yes Manikanta maintaining the quantities is important to get the right Halwa texture.