papaya halwa has a very mild, slightly tangy and light taste, is best to serve as a after dinner delight. This halwa can be prepared with raw, semi ripe or fully ripe papaya. But the taste of the halwa made with raw papaya is very different from the one made of ripe papaya.
The amount of sugar that goes towards making this halwa with raw papaya is quite a lot, so i made this with ripe papaya. It needs very little sugar as much as only 1.5 tsp per serving if a sweeter variety is used. This is best suited for people on a low calorie diet.
To make this papaya halwa, papaya can be grated or puréed . If you have a food processor, grating becomes easier otherwise chopping and then pureeing the papaya is suggested.
This papaya was from our backyard in India which was a huge one almost weighing 1. 5 kgs. It is a sweeter variety, I left to ripe fully for a day. so I did not have to use much of sugar.
Using milk or milk products for this halwa may not be a good option as papaya may not be compatible with milk. If you want to make it a heavier dessert, you can add nuts powder while cooking.
related recipe : carrot halwa
papaya halwa recipe below
papaya halwa recipe, how to make papaya halwa | halwa recipes
Ingredients (1 cup = 240ml )
- 5 cups papaya grated
- 2 tsps Rice flour
- 8 tsps Sugar Adjust to suit your taste
- 4 to 6 Green cardamom
- 1/4 cup cashews or almonds, Chopped
- 2 tbsps mixed dry fruits Chopped raisins, figs, apricots. (optional)
- 2 to 3 tbsps Ghee
Instructions
- Wash papaya and peel off the skin
- Grate it. I used my food processor to grate. If you feel grating is difficult, you can chop the fruit and blend it off in batches. You need a blender with sharp blades to purée.
- Heat a pan with ghee, add nuts and fry till golden. Add chopped almonds or cashews and fry till they turn slightly golden. Transfer to a plate.
- Add grated papaya and begin to cook. It begins to release juice
- Sprinkle rice flour, ½ tsp at one time and mix well to prevent lumps, repeat till u use up the entire flour. Cook till the juices almost evaporate. Rice flour is used to absorb the juices, else the cooking time will be more
- Add sugar, cardamom powder and mix well. I powdered cardamom along with little sugar. Check the sweetness. If needed add more.
- Cook string occasionally till the sugar blends well with the papaya. The sugar in the halwa should form to strings or rather turn sticky. This makes the halwa taste the best.
- Garnish with nuts.
