Sweet Potato Halwa | Shakarkandi ka Halwa | Sakkaravalli kizhangu Halwa

Sweet potato is not a regular item in my vegetable cart when I go shopping. Actually to be honest its been years since I cooked with this vegetable. Sweet potato was forgotten after school-time, Amma used to boil them and keep them ready for an evening snack after a tired day at school. The idea of sweet potato was a thing of the past. So how did it re-appear in my kitchen? We had a potluck party a few weeks back at a friends place and I took the responsibility of bringing dessert for about 25-30 people. I was looking for interesting halwa recipes and decided to make halwa with sweet potato. I usually hesitate to try a brand new recipe while hosting a party at home or while taking food to a friends place, but you know what, you cant go wrong with halwa can you? - milk, sugar, nuts, ghee, sweet potato -  whats not to like ? :). The halwa was very well received and I was a happy lady that day!

While I intended to make this halwa for 15 people, I realized I could get only about 10 serving. I also made this yummy and healthy Carrot Kheer for the potluck party along with this halwa.

Ingredients

Serves - 10
Prep Time - 10 min
Cook time - 45 minutes

Sweet potato - 1 kg, boiled with its skin and then peeled and mashed.
Sugar - 1 cup sugar
Milk - 1.5 cup
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
Unsalted butter - 1/3 cup
Cinnamon - 1/2 tsp
Cashews - 20 broken for garnishing

How do you do it

1. Boil the sweet potatoes with its skin on. I pressure cooked for 1-2 whistles. Cool and peel its skin and mash the sweet potato flesh and keep it aside

2. Heat a non-stick pan. Add unsalted butter and let it melt. Add the mashed potatoes now and fry well for about 10 minutes.

3. Add milk and mix well and after the milk boils, add the sugar and mix well.

4. Here comes the tough part, keep stirring the contents of the pan until you get a halwa like texture and the halwa starts to leave the sides of the pan. This took me about 30 minutes of non-stop stirring. It was quite tiring to do this and switched between my left and right hand to do this job continuously. Dont lose heart, it will become halwa eventually ;). The halwa needs to be very moist.

5. Once done, switch off flame, add the cardamom powder, cinnamon powder and mix well.

Garnish with broken cashews.

Notes

1. In step 4, if you stop stirring even for a few seconds the mixture will tend to splash, so quickly cover with a lid if you are taking a moments breath.

2. The sweet potatoes I got had orange colored flesh inside - that explains the orange color of the halwa

3. I used a cup of sugar for 1 kg of sweet potatoes. The amount of sugar varies depending on how sweet the potatoes are. So vary the sugar quantity accordingly.