Thirunelveli Godhumai Halwa/ Thirunelveli Wholewheat Halwa

Making Godhumai halwa aka whole wheat halwa from scratch was my long time dream since i started blogging.Halwa,this delicious sweet is famous at Thirunelveli/Tirunelveli and the famous Iruttukadai shop is very much known for its dark,caramel colour halwa. This halwa is my all time favourite,everytime whenever anyone goes to Thirunelveli the first thing we will eagerly wait is, definitely for this very rich halwa. This popular sweet can be prepared easily at home if you have whole wheat grains at home. However some makes this halwa with wheat flour and says its Thirunelveli halwa but the original Thirunelvali halwa is prepared with wheat berries. Wheatberries soaked over nite are later grinded as fine paste, this fine paste when tighted in a muslin cloth leaves the wheat milk, this milk when cooked with sugar, ghee and nuts makes this very dangerously addictive, glossy godhumai halwa.

If you planning this halwa, you must need two strong hands to help you, yes this halwa needs much attention and continous stirring. Eventhough its 1 cup of wheat berries, this dish need strong hands. Since i was very much excited to make this halwa at home, i kept on stirring and nailed this halwa prefectly. But trust me for the next two days, i had a severe shoulder pain and took pain killer for the pain. Better get an another hand to help you instead of suffering. Else this halwa rocks,ghee added to this sweet makes this more flavourful. We couldnt keep ourselves having this delicious sweet, we loved it to the core. This popular Thirunelveli godhumai halwa goes to this week blogging marathon as i picked Festival special as theme.Since Deepavali is nearing very much faster, give a try to this famous halwa and enjoy it.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#45. 

1cup Wheat berries/Samba Godhumai
2cups Sugar
1+1/2cups Ghee
1/2cup Cashew nuts
1/2tsp Cardamom powder
2cups Water

Soak wheat for six hours if it is young, and 12 hours if it is matured.

Grind wheat with water as fine paste and strain with a sieve to extract milk from wheat.

Repeat process with cloth to filter out wheat granules,keep the milk overnight in fridge.

Next day while making the halwa,discard the clear water you can see on the top of the wheat milk.

Take the wheat milk in a heavy bottomed pan, cook in simmer.

Meanwhile take the sugar in a pan and heat in medium flame until the sugar gets caramelised.

Stir the caramelised sugar to the cooking wheat milk on stove, cook for half an hour till the mixture gets thickens. Add ghee little by little and keep stirring.

Add the cashew nuts, cardamom powder.

Continue till halwa comes in the middle of the pan without sticking on to the sides of the vessels.

Cool for a few hours,slice and serve.

If consumed after a day, heat in a microwave oven or on a pan before serving.