Halva

Semolina toasted in oil until it smells of biscuits, then flooded with hot syrup in one go and turned out of a mould.

Vegan.

Ingredients

• 250 g coarse semolina
• 200 ml olive oil
• 300 g caster sugar
• 750 ml water
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 strip lemon peel
• 60 g flaked almonds
• ground cinnamon, to finish

Method

1. THE SEMOLINA IS TOASTED UNTIL IT SMELLS OF BISCUITS, which takes between twelve and fifteen minutes of constant stirring and cannot be hurried. Pale semolina gives a halva that tastes of raw flour and sets to a pallid paste; properly toasted it turns the colour of weak tea and the smell changes completely. This is the one step that decides the dish and it is also the dull one.
2. THE SYRUP GOES IN HOT AND ALL AT ONCE, and the pan will erupt. Hot syrup onto hot semolina boils violently for about ten seconds -- stand back, pour from the side, and do not lean over the pan. Added gradually it cools and the semolina seizes into lumps.
3. THE RATIO IS ONE OF SEMOLINA, ONE OF OIL, ONE AND A HALF OF SUGAR, THREE OF WATER, by volume rather than weight, and it is worth knowing because it scales exactly and is the only thing anyone needs to remember about this.
4. Syrup first: water, sugar, cinnamon stick and lemon peel brought to the boil and simmered 5 minutes. Kept hot on the back of the stove.
5. Almonds toasted in a dry pan and set aside.
6. Oil in a wide heavy pan over a medium heat. Semolina in and stirred constantly.
7. 12 to 15 minutes. It goes from pale to sand to the colour of weak tea. Stop stirring for thirty seconds and it burns in the middle.
8. HEAT OFF, and stand back. The hot syrup poured in from the side of the pan in one go, with the cinnamon and peel removed.
9. Stirred hard as it spits. Within about a minute it thickens dramatically and pulls away from the sides.
10. Back on the LOWEST heat for 3 minutes, stirring, until it comes together as one mass that leaves the base clean.
11. Lid on, heat off, left 10 minutes to steam and swell.
12. Almonds folded through, then pressed firmly into a mould or bowl brushed with oil.
13. Left 20 minutes, turned out, and dusted thickly with ground cinnamon. Eaten warm or at room temperature; it firms further overnight and keeps four days.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Greece · All recipes