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Xalwa

Xalwa is a traditional Somalian recipe for a classic dessert of sugar and cornflour flavoured with cardamom that's cooked slowly with water over a low flame. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Somalian version of: Xalwa.

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

180 minutes

Total Time:

200 minutes

Serves:

4–6

Rating: 4.5 star rating

Tags : Spice RecipesSomalia Recipes


Ingredients:

2kg raw sugar
1.5l water
300g cornflour (cornstarch)
250ml water
90g cardmom powder or crushed cardamom seeds
300g ghee

Method:

Mix together the cornflour and 250ml water to form a smooth paste (whisk vigourously to make the batter smooth). Mix the 1.5l water with the sugar in a large pot until the sugar dissolves then add the cardamom powder and gradually stir-in the cornflour mixture and the ghee. Mix thoroughly until everything combines. Heat on medium heat, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon for the first 20 minutes. After that go back every 10 minutes or so to stir.

Keep cooking for about 3 hours, until the mixture thickens and the ghee separates out. Pour the ghee from the pan, put the xalwa (also known as halwa) in a separate pan and decorate with peanuts and sesame seeds.