Moong Dal Halwa is a rich delicious dessert made with split yellow lentils (moong dal), sugar and ghee, along with the flavors of cardamom and saffron. This easy version of Moong Dal Halwa can be made in a pressure cooker, and is much less laborious than the traditional method.
You will find this halwa made only on special occasions due to the lengthy laborious process. Moong Dal is soaked overnight and then grinded to a paste. Then it is cooked along with ghee for a long time with a lot of stirring (easily more than an hour) until the dal is cooked and changes to the nice golden color. Then the outcome is the delicious rich moong dal halwa soaked in ghee.
I frankly don't have the patience for that, so in the past I would completely avoid making this halwa.
But now I have the easy version of the halwa made by first cooking the lentils in the pressure cooker. Then mixing it with ghee and cooking further to get the perfect halwa taste and texture.
A note to the authentic authentic halwa lovers. This halwa is pretty darn close to the real deal Moong Dal Halwa, but still may not be exactly the same. My family loves it and wants to eat more all the time, and I am happy that it can be made so easily without as much effort.
What is Moong Dal Halwa?
Halwa is usually made of flour (of various kinds), sugar, nuts, water and some fat (oil or ghee). eg. Sooji Halwa (semolina), Aata Halwa (wheat flour) and Besan Halwa (gram flour).
This Moong Dal Halwa skips the flour and is made with the small yellow lentils, called moong dal. This also makes this halwa gluten-free. This is the dal I use in this Moong Dal Fry recipe too.
All the other ingredients - sugar, water, nuts and ghee, are added to the moong dal to make this Moong Dal Halwa. To enhance the flavor, add ground cardamom and saffron.
How to make this Halwa?
We will start with dry roasting the moong dal lentils.
Then we will add water and pressure cook the dal.
After the dal is pressure cooked, we will add sugar and ghee. I like to use homemade ghee that I make in the instant pot too.
I know we seem to be adding a lot of ghee here, but that is what is required to make good moong dal halwa. So don't skimp on the ghee or you won't enjoy it!
Also add saffron soaked in warm milk and cardamom powder at this time.
Then stir it for about 10 minutes on saute mode to get the well cooked Halwa consistency.
This stirring time is much lesser than the traditional method and even though it is an arm workout, I promise it is much lesser.
Make sure to get nice golden color. Halwa is done well when ghee starts to separate. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pot, so the halwa does not stick to the base.
That is all. See that awesome delicious Moong Dal Halwa which took much lesser effort.
I feel with this method, making this halwa is much more reachable and we can enjoy it more often.
This halwa is best enjoyed warm.
Pro-tips for perfect Moong Dal Halwa in Pressure Cooker
- If you have a separate sealing ring for desserts, do use that when making this halwa.
- It if important to roast the dal well to get the nice golden color of this halwa.
- Don't skimp on the ghee when making halwa. If you are anyway consuming all the calories when eating this dessert, it is best to enjoy it the most too.
- Keep stirring and scraping the bottom when sautéing the halwa after adding ghee and sugar.
- Once the halwa is cooked. remove the steel insert from the pot to prevent the halwa from sticking to the base.
Refrigerating and Reheating Halwa
This halwa can be refrigerated in an airtight container and will stay good for about a week. It becomes solid when you refrigerate as it has lots of ghee.
To reheat the halwa, take the portion you want to eat in a microwave safe bowl and heat in microwave for about 20-30 seconds. If you are heating the whole quantity, you might need to microwave for about a minute. Or you can heat it in a pan.
I hope you give this delicious Instant Moong Dal ka Halwa a try!
If you enjoy halwa, here are a few more favorites:
- Pumpkin Halwa: A gluten-free halwa make with pumpkin.
- Sooji ka Halwa (Semolina pudding): The halwa tastes simply divine, and takes just 20 minutes to prepare.
- Instant Pot Carrot Halwa: Made with fresh grated carrots, this halwa is a healthier version with added almond flour.
Instant Pot Moong Dal Halwa
Equipment
Ingredients
- ¼ teaspoon Saffron
- 3 tablespoon Milk warm
- 1 cup Split Yellow Lentils (Moong Dal)
- 2 cup Water
- ¾ cup Ghee increase to 1 cup if needed (see notes)
- ¾ cup Sugar increase to 1 cup to taste
- ¼ teaspoon Cardamom
- 3 tablespoon Roasted Mixed Nuts chopped (I used almond and pistachios)
Instructions
- Soak saffron in the warm milk and set aside.
- Start the instant pot in saute (normal) mode. Add the moong dal and dry roast for about 10 mins. You want to stop roasting when the color changes to darker yellow or golden.
- Add water and stir well. Cancel saute and close lid with vent in sealing position.
- Pressure Cook on high pressure for 12 minutes. When the instant pot beeps, let the pressure release naturally.
- After opening, stir the dal and mash it with the ladle.
- Now add the ghee, sugar, cardamom and the saffron soaked in milk to the pot. Stir everything well.
- Now press the saute (normal) button and keep stirring for about 10 minutes. Make sure to get nice golden color. Halwa is done well when ghee starts to separate. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pot, so the halwa does not stick to the base (see notes if additional ghee is needed).
- Garnish with chopped nuts. Then take the steel insert out of the instant pot. Transfer to a bowl and serve.
Notes
- If you have a separate sealing ring for desserts, do use that when making this halwa.
- Don't skimp on the ghee when making halwa. If you are anyway consuming all the calories when eating this dessert, it is best to enjoy it the most too.
- Once the halwa is cooked. remove the steel insert from the pot to prevent the halwa from sticking to the base.
Note: Nutrition values are my best estimates. If you rely on them for your diet, use your preferred nutrition calculator.
Nids says
Will the water to Daal ratio be same if I use regular pressure cooker and also the cook times for the Daal ?
Meeta Arora says
Hi Nids - I have not tried, but would suggest to add 2.5 cups of water for a regular pressure cooker. And cook the dal for 3-4 whistles. Would love to hear how it turns out!
Sumedha Sethi says
Thanks
The halwa looks and tastes good.
I have never made it the conventional way so I do not know the difference .
But this was quite easy .
The stirring on sauté mode after steaming the dal is more than 10 mins closer to 25 mins.
Thanks Meera for the recipe.
Meeta Arora says
Hi Sumedha - So glad you enjoyed the halwa. Thank you for sharing back your experience.
Meena ANADA says
Will agave syrup work in place of sugar?
Meeta Arora says
Hi Meena - I have not tried halwa with agave, so cannot say for sure it will work well here. Please do share the results if you try it. Thank you!
Sandy says
Warning - Dont double the recipe.
I doubled the recipe and the water content was way too much after the pressure cooking in IP. Tastes nothing like regular moong dal halwa even after 30 mins of trying to evaporate the extra water on high sauté.
Meeta Arora says
Hi Sandy - sorry to hear the halwa did not turn out as expected. I have not tried doubling the recipe, so cannot say what might have gone wrong.
Bhavna says
Thanks for the recipe. Is it not required to wash the dal before roasting?
Meeta Arora says
Hi Bhavna - As we are dry roasting the dal, I do not wash it before using in this recipe. Would love to hear how the halwa turns out if you try the recipe.
Sam says
Can we use milk instead of water?
Priyanka Dogra says
Same question! Seems like it would add to the richness of the halwa! I am so excited to try this recipe Meeta!
Meeta Arora says
Hi Priyanka - I have not tried the halwa with milk. It may work well. Please do share if you try it.