Rajgira Halwa Recipe
Rajgira Halwa is very easy to prepare and absolutely delicious! Also it will give enough energy for a few hours after eating it so that you won’t feel hungry immediately during fasting 🙂
It is usually prepared during Ashadi Ekadashi, Shravan upwas, or even fasting days such as Navratri upwas and Maha Shivratri.
Amaranth also known as Ramdana or Rajgira is usually consumed during fasting in India. The word ‘Amaranth’ is derived from the greek term ‘amarantos’ meaning ‘unwithering’. The Hindi term for Amaranth, Ramdana, means God’s own grain. This grain contains more than 3 times the average amount of Calcium and is also high in minerals such as Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorous and Potassium. It is the only grain which contains Vitamin C. Amaranth is also easy to digest because of the presence of amino acids.
- Ghee – 4 tbsp
- Rajgira atta (amaranth flour) –1 cup
- Milk – 1 1/2 to 1 3/4th cups
- Sugar – 1/2 cup
- Cardamom powder – 3-4 crushed in a mortar pestle
- Almonds (or cashews) – 4-5, chopped
Procedure:
- In a cooking pan (I used a ceramic fry pan to prevent the halwa from sticking to the ends), heat ghee.
- Simultaneously, take Milk and Sugar to a saucepan and mix while warming it up. No need to boil it.
- Add the Rajgira flour/ atta to the ghee and roast while stirring with a spoon/ spatula till it starts giving out a nutty aroma and turns slightly brown in colour. Keep the gas flame low to medium to avoid the mixture from getting burnt. It will take about 4-5 minutes for the Rajgira flour/ atta to get roasted well. Keep an eye on the milk as well.
- Once the flour is roasted, slowly add the warm milk and sugar mixture while stirring the flour continuously so that there are no lumps formed. Be careful if the milk is too hot it may splutter.
- Cook while stirring continuously till the mixture becomes thick and ghee starts to ooze out from the sides. Also the halwa will start leaving the sides of the pan. Turn off the gas flame.
- Lastly add cardamom powder and sliced almonds (or cashew nuts). Mix well.
- Serve warm J
Also see other fasting recipes – Sabudana Khichadi Recipe, Aloo Jeera Recipe, Rajgira Paratha, Shakarkandi ki Kheer (Sweet Potato Kheer), Sweet Lassi, Mango Lassi, Nimbu Pani (Shikanji). Please note that since the rules for vrat/ upwas/ fasting are different across different communities and regions in India, please feel free to modify these recipes as required.
Hope you cook and enjoy this dish. Do share your thoughts and feedback in comments section. SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel for more recipes.
Video Gear used to make this video:
Canon 600D Camera, Canon Lens 50mm f.18
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