Badam halwa: A dish mentioned in 13th Century Arabic cookbook

Their neighbours were a Telugu brahmin family and whenever they cooked food, including, chutneys and ground podis for rice, the smell used to waft across the whole building, Ramnath recollects. 

His focus was on making it into the film world. He shot a small film and took pictures of it to various production houses to get an entry as an assistant director. 

After several rejections, he came to Mani Ratnam’s production house. Though he was not accepted as an assistant director, he got a major role in the movie Iruvar. 

Seeing his performance, a lot of production houses like AVM offered him roles, in serials, reality shows and one of the major roles which won him a lot of accolades was in Nageswaram directed by Thirumurugan. 

With the web series making a big entry in the entertainment world, he is currently playing a major role in Vallamai Tharayo.

What he most missed in Chennai was his group of drama friends, who used to climb guava and mango trees to get the juiciest and best fruits. 

Ramnath tells me that his amma’s cooking is what he loves the most and she knows his weakness for different Indian sweets and kuzhiappam. A spicy hot godhuma dosa with tomato thokku would be waiting for him when he returned from a shoot. 

He married Nagalakshmi, one of the girls next door. To balance his love for food he exercises a lot. He rarely enters the kitchen as there are two excellent cooks in his house — his mother and wife, but loves to make dishes like badam halwa. 

The cooking process taught him patience and he enjoyed the experience of creating a dish. He is also a skilled photographer and first shot Trisha before she became famous.

Almonds are mentioned as far back in history as the Bible. Almonds are thought to have originated in Central Asia and came to India during trade and with invaders from Persia. 

Halwa arrived in India during the Delhi Sultanate from the early 13th to the mid-16th century. It is said that desserts like halwa became so popular that the sultans had separate kitchens just to make halwa. In India, it had such an influence that the sweet confectioners are known as halwais till today and will always continue to be called so.

Badam halwa appeared in the 13th-century Arabic text Kitab al-tabikh(The Book of Dishes). Coastal towns where the traders and invaders came from saw the popularity of halwa first emerge. So be it Malabar coast or Kozhikode, halwa became an integral part of the cuisine. 

Today, there are numerous varieties of halwa available all across the country. Hari mirch ka halwa from Pune, cholar dal halwa from West Bengal, anda halwa from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, kashi halwa from Karnataka, black halwa from Kerala, badam halwa from Tamil Nadu. 

The halwais or halwa specialists believe the legend that unless dewdrops rained on a moonlit night, the halwa did not acquire the right taste. Thus on special occasions, a velvety smooth halwa, rich with almonds, a tinge of saffron and cardamom was made and served. Today, Ramnath shares the recipe of badam halwa for the readers.

Almond/Badam: 1/2 cup

Milk: 1/4 cup

Ghee: 2 tbsp 

Sugar: 1/4 cup

Saffron Milk: 2 tbsp (few strands of saffron soaked in milk)

Cardamom powder/elaichi powder: 1/4 tsp

Few cashew nuts/almonds/kismis (Chopped): 1/2 cup

Hot water: 1 cup for soaking

Salt: a pinch

Time: 30 mins

Cooking Time: 25 mins

Serves: 2 pax

Calories Per serve: 390CL PER SERVE.

• Firstly, soak 1/2 cup almonds in enough hot water for 30 minutes.

• Further, peel the skin of badam and tranfer to the blender.

• Add 1/4 cup of milk and sugar

• Blend all to a smooth paste

• Tranfer the badam paste into a large kadai

• Place it on medium heat

• Pour in 1 tbsp ghee

• Pour in the Saffron powder and cardamom powder

• Add a pinch of salt

• Now keep stirring clockwise without stopping for at least 15 mins

• After 15 mins lower heat, pour in the rest of the ghee and keep stirring.

• After 5 mins, halwa will start leaving the sides, ghee will ooze out from the sides and halwa will bubble into a nice thick paste.

• Now grease a thick steel plate with ghee and pour the contents in.

• Either serve the halwa chilled or hot, after decorating with chopped nuts on top.

• Use badam as soon as you peel it or it will lose flavour

• You can add a few cashew nuts while grinding for a grainy texture,

• Keep Stirring in one direction while cooking the halwa.