Photo: Sumit Surai · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Kerala · Dessert

Mango Halwa

Fresh mango pulp cooked down with sugar and ghee into a firm, translucent amber halwa — intensely mango-flavoured, sweet-tart, with a glistening, jelly-like texture characteristic of Kerala's Malabar halwa tradition.

🧺 Ingredients

• Ripe mango pulp (Alphonso or Muvandan): 500 g (from approx. 4 mangoes)
• Sugar: 350 g
• Ghee: 80 ml
• Corn flour/arrowroot: 3 tbsp (30 g)
• Cardamom: 4 pods (crushed)
• Lemon juice: 2 tsp
• Cashew nuts: 25 g

👩‍🍳 How to make Mango Halwa

1. Blend 4 ripe mangoes to smooth pulp.
2. Strain if fibrous.
3. Mix in 3 tbsp corn flour until lump-free.
4. In a heavy kadai over medium heat, combine mango pulp, corn flour mixture, and 350 g sugar.
5. Stir continuously.
6. The mixture will bubble intensely — keep stirring.
7. After 25–30 minutes it will darken from bright orange to deep amber and thicken considerably.
8. Add ghee — 1 tbsp at a time — every 3 minutes over medium heat, stirring continuously.
9. Add lemon juice in the last 5 minutes.
10. Cook until the halwa pulls away from all sides cleanly and a small piece holds shape in water.
11. Add cardamom.
12. Stir 2 minutes.
13. Pour into greased tray.
14. Scatter fried cashews.
15. Cool fully before cutting into squares.

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