Shital's-Kitchen: Moong Dal Sheero

Wishing all my Gujarati friends and family a Very Happy Hindu New Year! Today is the day after Diwali and is a big day for all business people in the Hindu community. This days marks the first day of the Hindu Calendar. Luckily Diwali this year fell on a Sunday and I was able to invite few of our relatives over. We had a small and very close Diwali get-together. Moong dal halwa was one of the desserts I thought of making for the occasion. Moong dal sheero is favorite of everyone in my house.

Moong Dal or Mug ni Dal no Sheero in gujarati or Moong Dal Halwa in hindi is a sweet made of yellow moong dal and is perfect in fall and winter months. This sweet is served warm with lots of delicious nuts. Moong dal which is rich in protein when fried in ghee and cooked in milk is nutritious and helps keeping the body warm and prepares it for winter. My mom says that some amount of ghee is healthy... it lubricates our joints and keep them moving just fine. And now even the nutritionists and western world have said that Ghee is Good! I believe everything in limit is good. So don't be scared of this delicious sweet. Enjoy it!

Usually Moong dal Sheero/halwa has ghee floating on it but my recipe uses the adequate amount of ghee without excessive floating. If you like more ghee or want to impress your guests you can surely use more.

Ingredients. (Serves 4-6 people)
1 cup yellow moong dal
1/2-3/4 cup ghee
2 cups milk
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. saffron
1/4 tsp. cardamom powder
Slivered almonds and pistachios to add inside and for garnishing

Soak 1 cup of moong dal in 3 cups of water for 3-4 hours. After soaking moong dal turns soft and lighter in color. This will almost double in size. You could use a smaller cup size or 1/2 cup measurement to make this recipe keeping all the proportions the same.
Remove all water and grind moong dal into a coarse paste.
Heat ghee in a heavy bottom pan. I used 1/2 cup but you can even use 3/4 to 1 cup ghee if you like the ghee floating on the halwa.
Add moong dal paste to hot ghee and fry on a low heat. This will take around 45 minutes to an hour on low heat but you need to be patient. The end result will be awesome. While you fry moong dal in ghee you will notice or might feel the amount of ghee being less in the recipe as moong dal absorbs the ghee to fry in. It will start releasing the ghee once it is cooked so do not worry. At first the frying mixture might look lumpy and difficult to fry but then it turns grainy and dry, and then eventually slightly moist and turns color and gives cooked aroma.
Slowly add milk and slightly powdered saffron and mix well. This might splatter at first so be careful. Stir till the milk is absorbed by moong dal.
Add sugar and mix well. As sugar melts, the mixture might appear runny. Cook till the mixtures dries out and leaves the sides of the pan.
Add cardamom powder and few slivered almonds and pistachios. Mix well.
Remove in a serving bowl and garnish with slivered almonds and pistachios.
Serve while it is hot. You could heat it again before serving.

Here is step-by-step pictorial recipe:

Soak 1 cup of moong dal in 2 cups of water for 3-4 hours. After soaking moong dal turns soft and lighter in color. This will almost double in size.

Remove all water and grind moong dal into a coarse paste.

Heat ghee in a heavy bottom pan

Add moong dal paste to the ghee and fry on a low heat. This will take around 45 minutes to an hour on low heat but you need to be patient. The end result will be awesome. While you fry moong dal in ghee you will notice or might feel the amount of ghee being less in the recipe as moong dal absorbs the ghee to fry in. It will start releasing the ghee once it is cooked so do not worry. At first the frying mixture might look lumpy and difficult to fry but then it turns grainy and dry, and then eventually slightly moist and turns color and gives cooked aroma.