Semolina Halva with Olive Oil GreekFoodTv☼

GreekFoodTV - Sweet Semolina Halva with PDO Greek Olive Oil is one of the healthiest desserts. To see the recipe, press the more button.

Halva with Semolina

10-12 servings

For the Syrup
3 cups granulated sugar
5 cups/1200 ml water
2 cinnamon sticks
1 piece of lemon zest

¼ cup pine nuts
¾ cup coarsely chopped pistachios, plus a bit more for garnish
1 cup/240 ml extra-virgin Greek olive oil
2 cups coarse semolina flour
½ cup Greek golden raisins
Grated orange zest
2 tsp. cinnamon for garnish

1. In a medium-size pot, bring sugar and water to a boil over medium heat. Add the zest. Simmer, uncovered, for 2 to 3 minutes until a loose syrup is formed. Remove pan from heat and cool slightly.
2. In an ungreased skillet over medium heat, toast pine nuts and pistachios, stirring constantly, until very lightly browned, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and cool.
3. In a large skillet or saucepan, heat olive oil until it just begins to sizzle, below the smoking point. Slowly add semolina, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon over low heat until semolina is lightly browned, about 7 to 10 minutes.
4. Take the pot off the flame, add the syrup very slowly to the semolina mixture, stirring with a wooden spoon. (Be careful not to burn yourself, as the mixture will bubble up rapidly.) Place the pot back on the flame. Stir over very low heat until the syrup is absorbed by the semolina and the mixture is thickened, 10 to 12 minutes. Add raisins, pistachios and pine nuts and stir. Add a little bit or grated orange zest. It is ready when it pulls sway from the sides of the pan. It should be congealed but grainy and honey colored. Remove the skillet from heat and pour the halva into a gelatin mold. Cover with a cloth and cool until it's completely set. Unmold it, garnish by sprinkling with some ground cinnamon and some pistachios. Serve together with a cup of coffee.

Halva is a traditional dessert in the Greek kitchen that actually helps lower your cholesterol, thanks to the extra virgin Greek olive oil that is the only fat in the dish. Halva comes in many other versions in the Greek kitchen and is extremely versatile. Try this with frozen Greek yogurt or vanilla ice cream or with some orange or other Greek spoon sweets on top. Halva is one of the classic Lenten, or fasting, desserts.

Come to visit Diane and Vassili at their GLORIOUS GREEK KITCHEN COOKING SCHOOL (Ikaria). They run cooking classes and organize culinary tours in Greece for recreational and professional cooks. They also own DV FOOD ARTS CONSULTING, a food marketing company that produces specialty books and other food-and-wine-related literature for a wide variety of clients and independently for the tourist and other markets. Diane consults on Greek cuisine for restaurants, retail outlets and producers of fine Greek foods. Vassilis Stenos (photographer) offers an extensive archive of food and travel photographs of Greece.

[libertadbrito]

Glad I came across this delicious recipe. I just made it with semolina flour, it tastes delicious with the pistachios on top.

[ruiz]

gooood What a wonderful Will definitly

[elizabethanastasiadis]

Can't wait to try this.  I purchased something  called Moong Dal Halwa ( It was terrible.)  I realized after I got home it said "A Delicious North Indian Dessert of LENTILS cooked in clarified butter and sugar. OMG I am so excited because I will try to make the Real Greek Halva using Diane Kochilas recipe :)  Thank you

[hyelady]

needless to say, your videos are very professionally done. i also made my greek friend's halvah and posted it under "how to make greek helvah" i have to change the name, it varies a bit from yours, but what i love about now is how i present it at the end. our priest wanted something special for fellowship this past 9/11 and i wanted to finish the video. i'm going to watch all your others as well.

[GreekFoodTV]

I've had Indian halwa made with carrots. It was amazing.

[elizabethpapadopoulou]

Good morning, lovely recipe but how many grams do the teacups you are using hold.

[Gkats]

Thanks for the Great Video, this is my favorite lenten dessert :) Can you use Honey in place of Sugar ? If so what ratio ! Keep the great Greek cooking coming, glad I found GreekFoodTV ~George

[leonardoalfaro]

I though halwa was only indian recipe . I will try this deliciousness.

[aliciaali]

In Pakistan halva with semolina is made with sugar
Nuts and saffron but in loose form with thin fried flat bread with light garbanzo curry as a
Once in while festive breakfast.
Now the sugar content is lit can we replace with stevia?
I believe halva is all over Central Asia, Middle East and
India /Pakistan.
Good recipie
/

[gbz]

Halwa is made from semolina, butter, water, sugar, raisins, and almonds. The sugar-water is flavoured with cardamom pods. Halwa is made at religious festivities or celebrations in India since ancient times as indicated in ancient religious scriptures.

[dudulush]

@MsSaidwhat hi i live in Greece and my mother in law is a Greek.I've learned from her the best recipe for this type of halva.(1 cup olive oil, 2 cups fine semolina, 2 cups sugar, and 3 cups water, and of course the spices and the dried fruits or nuts)this recipes it's having too much water maybe that's why urs was so lumpy.I hope my answer will help u .

[willomo]

My relatives back in Greece made this but can you sweten it differently as its too much sugar

[TasiaValandomeni]

if you think about it, All foods came from some country & the recipes were simply adapted due to the availability of a particular ingredient~
btw: It's Ridiculous to argue over the origin of a dish.
Can you not find something else to argue about???

[SpotlightKid]

The olive oil may have "good" fats, but the amount of calories from fat are still the same as any other oil, not to mention the insane amount of sugar that this recipe has. Olive oil may have properties that help lower your LDL if consumed raw, but using it for frying, and combining it with all that sugar will make you very fat, very quickly. Eating it regularly may very well give you diabetes...