Bombay/Mahim Ice Halwa

The delectable , delicious paper-thin melt in mouth with crunchy nuts dressing Halwa is perfect to whet your sweet tooth this Festive season. Prepare Ice Halwa for your family and friends, and they will ask for more.

Bombay ice halwa is also known as Mahim halwa or paper halwa . Its origin can be traced back to a small island of Mahim near Mumbai. The recipe idea of this sweet was floated by Mohanlal Mithaiwala who are said to be the first ones to sell this mithai years ago. Later this Halwa became so popular that it’s now sold across the country

Ice halwa is a layered sweet prepared with a mixture of corn flour and milk. Traditionally, corn starch was used to prepare this sweet but over period of time, this has been replaced with semolina (sooji) or all-purpose flour (maida). I have shared traditional way to prepare this recipe.

The Halwa is neither made of Ice nor it’s cold , do not be misled by it’s name. It was ivory in color and dusted with icing sugar when first sold and acquired it’s name from there

Being Born and brought up in Mumbai, I remember growing up eating this halwa during festivals. Dad would purchase it for all of us and I would end up eating the most 😉 . It’s really to delicious for words. Even after all these years, I still cannot resist these halwa so I make it rarely these days as I have become calorie conscious. But with Diwali approaching, I knew I had to make this sweet this year and so here I share the traditional recipe that I learnt from my friends in Mumbai.

Notes:

*Instead of Corn flour, roasted semolina can be used

**You can use Kewra extract/Rose Water/Saffron etc. for Flavorings. Additionally this halwa can be made in multiple or same color as desired

**It’s essential Corn halwa should be thoroughly cooked and rolled paper thin else it would take ages to dry completely

**Depending on humidity/temperature, it can take 3-15 hours to dry completely

Do watch video for better clarity in preparation and share your experience once you prepare the Halwa

Preparation time: 5 mins Cooking time: 30 mins Total time: 35 mins

Servings:6

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup + 2 tsp Ghee/Clarified Butter
• 1/4 tsp Cardamom Powder
• 1/4 cup corn Flour
• 4 tbsp chopped nuts
• 1 cup Sugar
• Additional Rose water/Kewra extract/Saffron milk etc for flavouring – optional
• Food Color – Optional

Steps to prepare

• In a pan, add sugar, corn flour and 1/4 cup ghee
• Add milk and mix well
• Cook over low medium heat until mixture starts thickening and gets paste like consistency
• Add cardamom powder and mix well
• Add 2 tsp ghee and mix well
• You can make halwa with no food coloring or different colors as desired
• Cook until it’s glossy and mixture should completely leave sides of the pan
• It is very essential that Halwa should be thoroughly cooked until non sticky else it would take ages to set
• Divide mixture into 2 pans. In first pan, add no color. Cool for 5 mins
• In second pan, add pink food coloring with 1.5 tsp Rose water and mix well. Cool for 5 mins
• Pour the mixture over greased butter paper/Parchment paper/Aluminum Foil
• Both halwa should be on different paper
• Place a greased butter paper on top of both and pat with hands
• Using rolling pan, roll into rectangular shape as thin as possible
• Peel off the butter paper and add nuts on top
• Again add same greased butter paper on top and press gently so that nuts are embedded well in halwa
• Peel off the butter paper and allow to set for 2-3 hours in refrigerator
• Repeat the same process with second Halwa
• Trim edges and cut halwa with paper into squares.
• Allow it to dry completely, it took me 10 hours to fan dry completely
• Store up to 1 week in refrigerator. Serve as required