Kozhikodan Halwa

Name: Kozhikodan Halwa
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 70 min
Total time: 80 min
Yield: 15 servings
Cuisine: Indian (Kerala)
Ingredients: 100g (½ cup) fine rice flour, sifted; 375g (1½ cups) dark jaggery (karuppu sharkara / dark palm jaggery), grated; 720ml (3 cups) thin coconut milk (second extract); 250ml (1 cup) thick coconut milk (first extract); 4 tsp ghee (divided); 45g (3 tbsp) raw cashews, halved; ½ tsp cardamom powder; Ghee for greasing the tray

🟢 Veg📊 Medium

Traditional 43. Kozhikodan Halwa recipe

⏱️10 minPrep

🔥70 minCook

🕒80 minTotal

🍽️15Serves

🧺 Ingredients

100g (½ cup) fine rice flour, sifted
375g (1½ cups) dark jaggery (karuppu sharkara / dark palm jaggery), grated
720ml (3 cups) thin coconut milk (second extract)
250ml (1 cup) thick coconut milk (first extract)
4 tsp ghee (divided)
45g (3 tbsp) raw cashews, halved
½ tsp cardamom powder
Ghee for greasing the tray

👩‍🍳 How to make Kozhikodan Halwa

Make the batter (5 mins): Whisk rice flour into thin coconut milk in a large bowl until completely lump-free. Grate jaggery and add to the mixture. Stir until jaggery dissolves fully — the batter will be dark and liquid.
Start cooking (25 mins, low heat): Pour batter into a heavy-bottomed kadai or wok. Cook on low heat, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula in wide figure-of-eight strokes to prevent sticking at the base. After 10 minutes the mixture will begin to thicken. At 20 minutes it will look like a dark porridge.
Add thick coconut milk (15 mins, low heat): Pour in thick coconut milk. Continue stirring without pause. The mixture will loosen briefly, then begin thickening again.
First ghee addition (10 mins): At the 35-minute mark, add 2 tsp ghee. Stir well until absorbed — the halwa will become glossy. Continue stirring. Add remaining 2 tsp ghee after 5 more minutes.
Final cooking (15–20 mins, low heat): Add cashews and cardamom powder. Keep stirring on very low heat for 15–20 more minutes until the halwa turns deep black, begins to leave the sides of the kadai cleanly, and releases a sheen of ghee at the edges. The halwa should be dense enough that a spoon dragged through it creates a path that does not close back.
Set and cut (60 mins resting): Pour into a ghee-greased tray immediately. Smooth the top with the back of a spoon dipped in ghee. Cool completely at room temperature for 1 hour, then cut into squares or diamonds.

📖 Cultural notes

Kozhikode (Calicut) has been the undisputed home of this halwa for over a century, and the city's famous Sweet Street on S. M. Street (Mittai Theruvu) has been selling it daily since the era of the Zamorins; the use of coconut oil instead of ghee and the long, patient stirring over hours give it an unmistakable chewy, dark finish found nowhere else in India. ---

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