Thursday, February 02, 2006

How not to make sweet potato halwa

1. Dont drown the grated sweet potatoes in milk. Find out the correct ratio from someone who KNOWS!

2. Dont overcook the sweet potato to an unpleasantly soft mush.

That said, I didnt immediately throw away the halwa I made. It seemed like such a wicked waste of ingredients and effort! The halwa didnt look as bad when it had cooled down, but it still wasnt anywhere near nice. The taste also mellowed a little - but it was still much too sweet. I did throw it away uneaten, eventually, but I still feel guilty about it...

Anyhow, due to popular demand (heh), here are two photos of my ill fated sweet potato halwa:



At this point, the sweet potatoes were cooked just about right, I guess... but there was sooooooo much milk that I had to let it go on reducing down - and by the time that process ended, there was only mush left.


It looks okay, sort of... but appearances are deceptive. I confess I picked off the toasted slivered almonds and ate 'em before I threw away the halwa!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

hahahaha!!

Anonymous said...

LOL...orange gone bad.:)
Aaa... Shammi, which measurements did you follow? Did you blog already about this recipe?

Anonymous said...

Indira, yep, I wrote a post about how I messed up the recipe, but I didnt post the actual recipe (or the photos the first time around). No point, seeing how it turned out :)

I didnt use any actual measurements (BIG mistake) - but it was something like 3 cups sweet potato to 5 cups milk, 1/4 cup sugar and later, 1/4 cup condensed milk.

Anonymous said...

Maybe the sweet potatoes are too sweet. They vary in their sweetness, some are very bland, some are really, really sweet. I think that was the culprit.
Sugar measurements sound fine to me.

Priyamvada_K said...

Shammi,
Been meaning to post a sweet potato recipe just for you in my blogsite - will do it one of these days and dedicate it to you, so watch my space :)

Btw, I'm tempted to use your halwa as a jam. Might be ok in a sandwich, you know....

We've all had our cooking fiascos, so don't feel bad. I routinely visit your site - whether I make the recipes or not, at least to drool at the pictures :)

Will make the tomato thokku when tomatoes come back in season.

Take care,
Priya.

Priyamvada_K said...

Shammi,
Recipe is at my blogsite,

http://priyamanaval.blogspot.com

Cheers,
Priya.

bilbo said...

hey shammi,
just in case you 're looking for a spicy recipe for the sweetpotatoes, do check my blog.
Ive been thinking about your halwa. Maybe the next time you try it, (if you do), you could save adding the sugar till the last and add only the amount you need. I often do this when I make kheer.

The Cookbook Junkie said...

It looks good to me but I have no idea what it's supposed to look like.