HALWA RECIPE

 SOMALI  HALWA 

Ingredients:

• White sugar: 2 ½ cups
• Light brown sugar: 1 cup
• Water: 3 cups (for the sugar)
• Corn flour: ¾ cup
• Water: ¾ cup (for diluting corn flour)
• Oil: 4 tbsp
• Unsalted butter: 4 tbsp
• Cardamom: 3
• Nutmeg: 3
• Yellow and orange food color: a pinch

Preparation:

• Heat the butter in a pan. When it melts, remove from heat. Add oil to this ghee and keep aside.
• Mix the corn flour with ¾ cup of water without any lumps. Add the food coloring to this mixture and mix well and keep aside.
• Break the nutmeg shell and crush and grind the nuts.
• Remove the skin of the cardamoms and powder the seeds.

Method:

• Heat a pan. Add white sugar and light brown sugar. Add 3 cups of water and mix the mixture well. Allow the mixture to boil till both the white and brown sugars are completely dissolved.
• Add the powdered nutmeg and cardamom.
• Reduce the flame and add the corn flour mixture slowly.
• Cook by continuously stirring.
• Now start adding the butter-oil little by little at regular intervals without stopping the stirring. The butter-oil will get absorbed in the halwa.
• Continue to cook and stir, making sure that the halwa is cooked evenly, till the halwa leaves the sides of the pan and becomes a whole mass.
• Remove from heat. Delicious Somali halwa is ready.
• Wait for the halwa to cool a bit and serve warm.
• You can also pour the halwa into a greased tray and allow it to cool and then you can cut them into pieces and serve.

You can use cardamom powder and nutmeg powder, instead of powdering the seeds. You can also use 6 tbsp of ghee instead of butter and oil. The halwa can be garnished with roasted peanuts or roasted sesame seeds to enhance the taste and flavor.

MABUYU RECIPE

MABUYU (Baobab Seeds)

First coating:

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
1/2 cup mabuyu flour
4 cups mabuyu
1/4 tsp chili powder(optional)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cardamom(optional)
Red or any color food colouring.

Method:
In a pot, add the water, sugar, salt, chili powder, food colouring, ground cardamom and cook on high heat stove.
Mix the mixture and let it cook.
Once the syrup starts to cook, you will see lots of bubbles foaming up the pot. Keep mixing and stirring and let it cook.
When the syrup starts to bubble down, it means the syrup has started to thicken, check to see if the syrup is sticky (not too sticky), then add the mabuyu seeds and mix well.
Continue to cook and mix and then add the mabuyu flour and mix very well.
Continue cooking until the syrup starts to crystallize and starts coating on the mabuyu seeds.
Then remove the sugar coated mabuyu and place them on a big plate (sinia).
Let the mabuyu cool completely..The mabuyu is ready to be eaten or you can coat them with a second coating of sugar to get the same results as in this picture

Second Coating
Now for the second coating:
You need:
2 cups water
2 cups sugar
Red food colouring

Mix the above ingredients and cook the same way you cooked the mabuyu in the first coating, but in this case you will use the cooked mabuyu, to give it a second coating of sugar..
Enjoy!!!