Banana Halwa (Kele Halvo)
Banana halwa is amazingly yummy, soft and delicious. Banana halwa is also super easy to make. Take my word for it. It shouldn't take you more than 35 minutes if you're preparing halwa for 2.
Nendran variety banana is used to prepare banana halwa. The banana has to ripen until it's peel is completely black and then halwa is made from it.
Banana halwa is called kele halvo in Konkani, kele refers to banana in Konkani. Here goes the recipe for you:
Ingredients:
- 3 medium sized Nendran bananas
- 1 cup of sugar
- 5 tablespoons of ghee
- 3 tablespoons of chopped cashew nuts (optional)
Serves: 2
Preparation Time: 35 minutes
Things to know for you to make this banana halwa:
The key to amazing banana halwa are 2 important things: Nendran variety banana and overripe Nendran bananas.
The banana should overripe to the extent the banana peel is completely black. That's when the banana inside is overripe and soft, perfect to make this amazingly yummy halwa.
If the bananas are not overripe then keep them covered in a polythene bag for 2-3 days until they overripe and their peels turn all black.
If you can't wait for them to overripe then look for alternatives methods mentioned below.
Method Of Preparation:
1. After the banana peel turns completely black, use the bananas to make halwa.
2. Peel the Nendran bananas, slice them and grind them along with sugar into a fine paste in a blender. Do not add any water while grinding.
If you happen to add water, it'll take longer to cook.
3. Transfer the ground banana paste into a non-stick pan and cook it on a medium flame, stirring once in a while.
4. As the banana puree cooks, it changes in colour. Once it does change in colour, keep stirring it continuously using a ladle to ensure uniform cooking and to prevent it from sticking to the bottom.
5. When the banana paste starts to thicken, heat 2 tablespoons of ghee in a tempering pan/skillet. Fry chopped cashew nut pieces in ghee on medium heat, until they turn golden brown in colour and add it to the cooking banana paste and mix well.
6. Once the banana paste dries up into a semi-solid state. Lower the heat to minimum. Add 3 tablespoons of ghee, mix well and stir continuously.
7. Add extra ghee just in case halwa starts sticking to the bottom. Once the halwa mixture is cooked through it starts coming off the pan and moves along with your laddle. It also gives out all the ghee that was added to it. That's when you know you can remove the mixture off heat. Give the mixture a taste and check if it is still raw or is cooked through. You should also have a very sticky mixture when you touch it with your finger tip. If it isn't sticky enough then cook it for an extra minute or two.
If the halwa mixture hasn't got sticky enough, then halwa can't be cut into pieces later on and you would have to eat it with a spoon. :-)
8. Grease a plate/tray with a thin layer of ghee. Ghee prevents halwa mixture from sticking to the plate. Halwa pieces can be easily removed off the plate later on.
9. Transfer the halwa mixture onto the greased tray and use a flat ladle to spread it out evenly. Add few drops of ghee to the ladle to help you spread the mixture or else it tends to stick to the ladle.
10. Allow the mixture to cool completely. Once cooled, cut halwa into pieces of desired shapes and then separate the pieces. You'll get a glossy texture on the halwa once it cools.
11. Enjoy the yummy halwa!!
Extra Pointers:
- If the banana is just ripe and you want to use it (and can't wait for it to overripe), it might be a little hard and in that case you can cook the sliced banana for a whistle with just a quarter cup of water. Once the cooked banana cools completely, grind it into a smooth paste along with sugar.
- If the bananas are just ripe, then the colour of the halwa made out of it will be lighter in shade.
- The amount of sugar to be added depends on how sweet the bananas are and how sweet you would like your halwa to be. After grinding the bananas with sugar, taste and check if its sweet enough for you, if not add more sugar.
- Banana halwa takes great without cashews too.
- To make banana halwa even more yummy add a cup of deseeded, chopped dates while your grinding banana with sugar and you'll have a heavenly halwa!
Liked this banana halwa recipe? Then you might like these other halwa recipes too:
Bottle gourd Halwa (Gardudde Halwa)
For more Indian desserts and sweets recipes look here.
Tags: Halwa, Indian deserts, sweets, Kele, banana, kele, halvo
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