Weekend Recipe: Lajjaya's Alu Halwa

Weekend treats should be uncomplicated and made from ingredients readily available in your kitchen. Lajjaya Singh's recipe for Himachal-style Alu Halwa is easy, straightforward and yum.

It takes less than an hour to put together and will brighten up your weekend.

Lajjaya was a social worker, representing leading social welfare organisations in the 1950s in Himachal Pradesh. She published a book of Himachali recipes, in Hindi, in 1981, the title of which translated to The Art of Himachal Cooking.

Find out more about the amazing Lajjaya here and her recipe for Soybean Kachoris.

Alu Halwa

Serves: 4-5

Ingredients

• 250 gm potatoes
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup ghee
• 2 tsp or 10 gm raisins
• 20 almonds, slivered or pistachios or both
• 10-12 green elaichi or cardamom, remove seeds from the pods, pounded
• 3½ tbsp fresh grated coconut, grated
• 300 gm water

Method

• Boil the potatoes till tender and peel.
  In a bowl, mash the potaotes till very smooth and there are no lumps.
  Keep aside.
• In a saucepan or a kadhai, heat the ghee and add the mashed potatoes.
  Cook, stirring until lightly browned.
  Add the water and the sugar.
  Fry till the water evaporates.
  Add the almonds/pistas, raisins, elaichi powder and the coconut.
  Mix.
• Serve warm.

This recipe was excerpted with the kind permission of Lajjaya Singh's daughters, New Delhi-based Sneh Thadani and Baltimore-based Prem Bhandari who selected a few recipes for Rediff.com and translated them and shared this yesteryear image of their parents.

• REDIFF FOOD