page_title: Halva
section_title: India
hierarchical_section_title: Halva / Cultural use / India
caption_attribution_description: English: Sooji Halwa is a very popular Indian sweet dish often made on any festival.
context_page_description: Halva are dense, sweet confections originating in the Middle East. It is also popular in Central and South Asia, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Eastern Europe, Malta, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and in the Jewish diaspora. Identical sweets exist in other countries, such as China, though these are not generally referred to as "halva".
  In global, popular usage it means "desserts" or "sweet", and describes two types of desserts:
  Flour-based
  This type of halva can be made from grain flour, typically semolina. Its primary ingredients are clarified butter, flour, and sugar. In the city of Tirunelveli, in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, halva is made using wheat flour which gives it a brown colour; a famous version is Godhumai halva or Iruttukadai halva. These types have a pleasant taste due to water from the Thamirabharani river being used to make it.
  Nut butter-based
  This type of halva is crumbly and usually made from tahini or other nut butters, such as sunflower seed butter. Its primary ingredients are nut butter and sugar.
  Halva may also be based on various other ingredients, including beans, lentils, and vegetables such as carrots, pumpkins, yams and squashes.
context_section_description: India has many types of halva, some unique to particular regions of the country. It is one of the popular sweets of India usually made from semolina.
  It is speculated that Halva (or Halwa) is associated with Muslims in India, but written records of sweets from Mānasollāsa indicate that semolina halvas, the most popular form of halvas in India, were already known in India, for instance, it mentions a sweet called shali-anna which is a semolina based sweet today known as Kesari in South India.
  Various types of halva from India are distinguished by the region and the ingredients from which they are prepared. In northern India, the most famous include sooji  (or suji) halva (semolina), aate ka halva (wheat), moong dal halwa (mung bean halva), gajar halva (carrot) which traditionally belongs to Punjab and is referred to as gajrela, dudhi halva, chana daal halwa (chickpeas), and Satyanarayan halwa (variation of suji halwa, with the addition of detectable traces of banana), and kaju halva (cashew nut). Kashi halva, made from winter melon or ash gourd, is a famous and traditional sweet of Karnataka, and mainly makes a regular appearance in traditional Brahmin weddings. Sooji halwa is sold in many eateries in Karnataka as Kesari bhath, usually alongside pineapple. "Aate ka Halva" usually being served every day as "Prashad" after reciting hymes in Sikh Gurudwaras.
  Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu is known for its wheat halwa. Its preparation is a laborious process that
  "is slowly seeing this sweet disappear." Unlike other sweets, the extra ghee is not drained out but forms an outer layer. This increases the shelf life of the halwa. The unique taste of the halwa is attributed to the perennial Thamirabranai.
  The history of Kozhikodan Halwa in Kerala could trace back to Zamorin era. Zamorin invited chefs from Gujarat to prepare halwa for their royal feast. They were also granted places to stay beside royal kitchen. This settlement later evolved as sweet sellers street, nowdays known as SM (Sweet Meat) Street or Mittayitheruvu. Kozhikodan halwa  is made of pure coconut oil, not from ghee. Significant Arab and Middle Eastern influence in Kerala contributed to the  Karutha Haluwa (black haluwa), made from rice, is very popular. Kozhikodan halwa also builds religious harmony, Ayyappa devotees from neighboring statesKarnataka, Andhra Pradesh are buying halwa and chips like prasadam (Sacred food). They distribute them among their neighbors and friends, who consume them with a religious zea.
caption: Sooji halwa made from semolina or sooji
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "DSC-HX200V", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "350", "Image YResolution": "350", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "GIMP 2.8.10", "Image DateTime": "2016:07:04 00:20:44", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "296", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 3, 0, 0]", "GPS GPSTimeStamp": "[5, 46, 42089/1000]", "GPS GPSStatus": "V", "GPS GPSImgDirectionRef": "M", "GPS GPSImgDirection": "267", "GPS GPSMapDatum": "WGS-84", "GPS GPSDate": "2015:06:10", "GPS GPSDifferential": "0", "Image GPSInfo": "38652", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail ImageDescription": "", "Thumbnail Make": "SONY", "Thumbnail Model": "DSC-HX200V", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail Software": "DSC-HX200V v1.01", "Thumbnail DateTime": "2015:06:10 11:16:41", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "39072", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6809", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/80", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2015:06:10 11:16:41", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2015:06:10 11:16:41", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "3421/640", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "95/32", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "97/20", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4376", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3568", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "38622", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}