Have to mention my aunt Mrs Kamakshi and my cousin Priya for making this alwa along with me on skype and showing recipe, step by step! Thank you both :)
Drain the soaked wheat.
This recipe makes about 2 cups of alwa.
You need whole wheat for this. It's called 'samba gothumai' in Tamil. It's available in the Indian stores as 'Haleem Wheat'. I don't like alwa made out of wheat flour.
Whole wheat 1/2 cup
Water 3 and 1/2 cup water (basically 7 times whole wheat)
Sugar 1 and 1/4 cup+ 1/8th of a cup ( if you like it sweeter, make it 1 and 1/2 cup sugar)
Ghee 1 cup ghee ( keep a bit more handy)
Cardamom 1/2 teaspoon
The first step is to soak the whole wheat overnight.
Go ahead and grind the water and the soaked wheat in your wet grinder if you have one, for at least 45 minutes to an hour.
If you don't have a wet grinder, you can use your blender or mixie to do this. Just make sure it's super smooth.
Prepare the tray you are going to pour the alwa with ghee. Spread the ghee so that it covers the tray fully.
Strain the mixture through a fine strainer and try and squeeze out al the juice from the leftover pulp.
Add the sugar, saffron and cardamom to this mixture.
Pour this in a heavy bottomed pan. On a medium flame, keep stirring this mixture,.
Be prepared to be near the stove for a good 45 minutes.
I've taken pictures every 10 minutes. So you can see the difference.
Every 10 minutes add a generous ladle of ghee, when you reach around 40 minutes, you should be able to see the ghee oozing out of the alwa. This means, it's ready to be poured on the tray.
In the last 15 minutes, you will notice that the mixture starts bubbling and coming together. When you mix it, it should cling to the spoon.
At this point, the alwa is done.
Pour it out on the tray.
Enjoy it hot! You will be able to cut it in pieces once it sets.
This can be stored for at least a week, but be sure to microwave it a bit before eating for maximum taste.
