Pumpkin Halwa With Sugar | Mathanga Halwa

Pumpkin halwa or Mathanga halwa is a melt in mouth sweet from India, made with pumpkins. It is very much popular in north India. But not that much in South India.

Pumpkin is an extremely nutrient rich vegetable and is full of vitamins and minerals, but very health friendly for all ages as it is low in calories. It is one of the most versatile vegetable that you can consume and gives lots of sweet and savory dishes.

Pumpkins are full of fibers, potassium and vitamin C and so it lowers the risk of heart attack, It also reduces blood pressure, provides good sleep, the vitamin A in pumpkin improves vision and so on...
So consume this vegetable in any forms, and there are so many varieties of dishes available.

In this recipe I have used some ghee and milk to enhance the flavor, but still you don't like to have milk and ghee, replace with coconut milk and coconut oil.

Pumpkin halwa with sugar recipe Author: Anju Aneesh Recipe type: Sweets Cuisine: India Preparation time: 10 minutes | Cooking time: 1 hour | Total time: 1 hour 10 minutes Ingredients 800gm pumpkin  3/4 cup sugar 1 cup milk 1 teaspoon cardamom powder 1/4 cup rice flour 1 cup water  2 tablespoon cashew nuts, chopped 3 tablespoon of ghee or more Direction of preparation  pumpkin halwa  Remove seeds of pumpkin and steam it for about 5 to 8 minutes till the pumpkin pieces turn soft. Remove the skin and grind in a mixer grinder till you get a soft lump free juice.  Heat ghee in a thick bottomed pan and pour pumpkin puree. Saute for 3 minutes with continuous stir till the pumpkin mixes with the ghee. Add in sugar and again stir till the sugar dissolve and slightly loosened. Pour 1 cup of milk and reduce the flame to low and cook till reduces to three fourth. Mix 1/4 cup of rice flour in 1 cup of water and add in the hot pumpkin. Stir continuously till it reaches a thick consistency. Add cashews and cardamom powder and mix well. Transfer this in a greased pan and level the top with a spoon. Let it cool down completely before you serve. Enjoy.

Video For pumpkin halwa

Step by step 

1.  Take a pumpkin and wash thoroughly before you proceed.
   
2. Cut into small pieces. I used only half portion of this pumpkin (800 grams). Remove seeds with a knife or a spoon.
   
3. Steam cook the pumpkins till they become soft. 
   
4. You can check with a knife. Just insert one knife into the cooked pumpkins, if it enters smoothly, that means the pumpkin is cooked perfectly. If not, cook again until they turn soft.
   
5. Remove skin. This time the skin will also be softened and you can remove easily. Use a knife and gently peel off the skin.
   
6. Next, we have to make smooth pulp of this steamed pumpkins. Cut into small pieces if needed.Then grind into smooth lump free pulp in a mixer grinder and food processor. If you feel any difficulties in grinding, then add a very little water just enough to  grind the pumpkins. Do not add more water while grinding, as it will lengthen the cooking process as we have to reduce the water content completely. 
   
7. Heat 3 tablespoon of ghee in a pan. You can add more if needed. I use non-stick pan here, so needed only minimal amount of ghee for this recipe. 
   
8. Pour the pumpkin pulp and saute for one or two minutes till the pumpkin and ghee combined nicely.
   
9. Add 3/4 cup sugar or more (to your taste.).
   
10. Stir till the sugar dissolves, the mixture will be a little bit looser at this stage. Saute till all the sugar dissolve completely. At this stage, the pulp will loosen a little bit and will start to splutter. So reduce the flame to low or medium according to your preference and keep a safe distance from the stove.
    
11. Once all the sugar dissolved, you can add milk. 
    
12. Mix well.
    
    
13. Let the pumpkin to cook in milk on low flame for about 10 minutes.
    
14. Now mix 1/4 cup rice flour in 1 cup of water, add in the hot pumpkin. If you like loose halwa, then you can skip this step and continue to cook till thick.
    
15. Now this mix has to be cooked completely till it reaches a thick consistency. Also, the halwa will start to release from the side and ghee will also start to separate.
    
16. Add 2 teaspoons of ghee fried chopped cashews.
    
17. Mix well.
    
18. Transfer onto a plate. The plate has to be greased with ghee. Garnish with some cashews.
    
19. Cut into small pieces when cool down completely.
    

Tips

1. There should be no hard pieces in the pumpkin puree.
2. If you are using normal pan, you may need more ghee. Add more if required.
3. I have used milk here, you can choose coconut milk and coconut oil as a vegan option.