Greek Halva with Raisins
Greek halva is an aromatic and indulgent flour based pudding filled with raisins. Ready in 25 minutes, you can serve it for dessert or as breakfast.
Ingredients
- 1 cup Vegetable Oil or Sunflower Oil
- 2 ½ cups All purpose flour
- 1 tsp Ground cinnamon plus more for topping
- ½ tsp Ground cloves
- ½ tsp Pure vanilla extract
- 3 cups Granulated sugar
- 4 cups Water room temperature
- Orange Zest from one orange
Instructions
- Grease a a 10 inches (25cm) bundt pan with vegetable oil and set aside.
- Heat the vegetable oil over medium-low heat in a non-stick big pot.
- Gradually, add the all purpose flour and stir continuously with a wooden spoon, for about 7-10 minutes or until the mixture becomes golden brown. Lower the heat if the mixture is getting brown quickly. The flour at first will look lumpy.
- Add the ground cinnamon, ground cloves and vanilla extract and give it a good stir.
- Remove pot from heat and add the sugar, water, orange zest and stir vigorously. Be careful of splashing water.
- Return pot on fire and stir for about 10 minutes or until the mixture thickens. When the mixture starts to pull away from the bottom of the pot, halva is ready. It should have little to no lumps.
- Remove pot from heat and stir in the raisins till fully incorporated.
- Transfer halva into a 10 inches (25cm) lightly greased bundt pan and press it down using a spatula or spoon. Hit the pan into a hard surface to make sure halva is evenly distributed and shaped nicely.
- Turn it out after 1 hour and top it with extra cinnamon.
- Cut into slices and serve with yogurt or as it is. Enjoy!
Notes
- Avoid using olive oil for this recipe as it will make halva more dense and heavy.
- Heat the oil well before you add the flour otherwise you will end up with a soggy mixture.
- Beware, not to add flour at once as it will prevent it from toasting.
- Adjust the heat accordingly if the flour is getting brown too quickly. We want the flour to be toasted slowly.
- When you add the water it will start boiling. Stir immediately, to avoid a lumpy mixture.
- Stir continuously, until the mixture thickens. At first it might seem that halva is not coming together but don't worry. Stirring is the key part!
- As the mixture keeps thicken it will get harder to stir. Make sure you use a good quality wooden spoon.
- You can serve halva warm or cold. I prefer letting halva cool down.
- You can omit raisins or substitute for nuts and other dried fruits.
- Halva can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 days or refrigerated for up to 5 days.
- Have any questions about the recipe or want to ask for substitutions? Contact me and I will be happy to help!
Nutrition
Calories: 382kcalCarbohydrates: 60gProtein: 2gFat: 16gSaturated Fat: 13gSodium: 4mgPotassium: 26mgFiber: 1gSugar: 43gVitamin A: 1IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 8mgIron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!