Stovetop Halva (Halva Tou Koutaliou)

My mother started working at a very young age to help support her family, so as a working woman for most of her life, she never really found kitchen duties very exciting. Her belief was always that as long as you had a few basic, simple ingredients, you could always prepare a great meal. For the most part she was right and ahead of her time in thinking about how to cook. We never had fancy food on the table, but it was always healthy, delicious and beautifully presented…and you can’t ask for more than that.

My family always believed in buying the best quality ingredients…anything less than the freshest was never even considered. My love for international markets started during this time, and I remember visiting many of them with my dad who would walk up and down the isles with me and tell me what the ingredients were and how they were used. My favorite place was an out of the way Middle Eastern market that dad would visit to buy the freshest pita breads. I loved going with him because it always turned into a mini food lesson, especially if he happened to come across something new that he wanted me to try. Those new and interesting little morsels would always be the treat we enjoyed on the way home.

To others, our meals seemed more exotic. It was the 70’s and we were making things like homemade falafel, ho’ mous and babaganoush, way before they were mass produced for the general public. I was always the kid who had the interesting lunch that everyone wanted to try. This was also the time when it was difficult to find plain yogurt in the grocery stores, but the impending health craze would soon fix that problem.

Friends loved coming over to visit just to see what was on the menu. When I had sleepovers with my girlfriends, my mother was always the one who would head to the kitchen to whip up snacks for us kids. She would stand for hours in the kitchen frying up batches upon batches of French fries that we quickly gobbled up. Another favorite were the honey soaked loukoumades and when she didn’t have yeast on hand, she would make us something similar called tiganites (pronounced tee-ga-nee-tes) made with baking powder.

When we were lucky enough to have some semolina on hand, she would make my grandfather’s famous stovetop halva. This type of halva is not the same as the halva you buy in the store made with tahini…this is a quick dessert made from either a medium or coarse semolina flour and a spiced syrup. Traditionally, sliced or slivered almonds are added to the mixture, but I prefer to leave them out and just use them as a garnish. I find that the addition of the almonds makes them soggy and the dessert itself, difficult to slice.

When using semolina, there are a few things to remember. Semolina comes in varying degrees of thickness—fine, medium and coarse. The finely milled version is usually used as a thickener for creams or custards and used in the same way that you would use cornstarch, as you will find in desserts like galatobureko and kataifi. The coarser version is usually used in breads and even in a dessert like basbousa. The medium to coarse variety is the one that I prefer to use when I make the stovetop halva. Both give the halva a lovely toothsome texture. I’ve known many people who use the fine semolina, but I’ve found that the end result is more dense and not as pleasant to eat. You can buy semolina in the specialty section of many grocery stores, online or those international grocery stores specializing in Mediterranean or Middle Eastern cuisine. If I cannot find the medium grind semolina, I prefer to use the coarse variety, add just a little ore water and cook it a little longer.

When mum would make it for us, she never had time to mold it into the different shapes. We would jump into the bowl and before you knew it, it was gone. If you are enjoying this during Lenten season, you may want to keep the dessert simple or fill it with poached fruit as is often done. If you are making it at other times during the year, you can add a scoop of your favorite ice cream or pour on some anglais sauce. My favorite way to eat this is with a scoop of chocolate ice cream or chocolate whipped cream. There is something very comforting in the hot/cold sensation, and the chocolate goes so well with the fragrant spices used in the syrup.

This dessert is seen in other cultures across the world and in the Middle East, they make a similar version with regular flour but in exactly the same way.

It can be made with butter, oil or a combination of both. If it is eaten during the Lenten season, then it is just made with oil. My grandfather discovered the secrets to making this delicious dessert, and handed it down to us. One of his secrets was that he only used oil and added a little honey to the syrup, to prevent it from drying out. This way, it remains moist and tender if by chance there are any leftovers for the next day — I can’t say that this has ever been an occurrence at my house!

Stovetop Halva

Syrup:
3 cups water
¼ cup honey
1¼ cups granulated sugar
4 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
**Orange oil or orange peel without the pith

Halva
¼ cup light olive oil (vegetable oil, coconut oil or half butter/half oil)
2 cups medium semolina
½ cup slivered almonds, roasted & chopped into small pieces **optional
ground cinnamon for dusting on top **optional
honey for drizzle **optional
chocolate sauce for drizzle **optional

First, you need to make the syrup. Add all of the ingredients (except the honey) together into a small stock pot and bring to a boil. Once it comes to a rolling boil, add the honey, stir well until it melts, then turn it off. Let the spices and any dried peels that you are using steep into the syrup for about 15 minutes, and then remove them before using the syrup.

Next, decide if you plan to use any molds for this or if you will just enjoy it right out of the pot. If you will be using molds, make sure to lightly oil them so that it will be easy to remove the individual desserts once they have cooled.

Add the oil to a medium sized pot along with the 2 cups of semolina and heat gently over low to moderate heat. Stir the ingredients together continually and you will start to hear the semolina sizzle in the oil. This will begin to toast the semolina, so make sure to stir it continuously to prevent it from burning. Make sure the oil has coated the semolina evenly, and that it is toasting evenly in the pot, as you continue to stir. Cook it over low heat for about 5 minutes until it begins to take on a slightly golden color.

Strain out the spices and dried peel from the syrup, and pour half of the syrup into the pot with the semolina. Stir in the syrup and remove the pot from the heat. Continue this stirring on and off the heat until the semolina cooks through. Turn down the heat to low, and add the other half of the syrup, repeating this process of partly cooking over the low heat and then moving the pot off the heat. The syrup will slowly become absorbed and the mixture will begin to thicken. If you are going to pour this into a mould, now it the time to do it before the mixture becomes too stiff and difficult to manage.