moong dal halwa recipe with step by step photos – a popular and rich halwa recipe from north india. moong dal halwa is usually made on celebratory or festive occasions like holi, diwali, marriages etc.
for this halwa recipe i referred a book on the cuisine of uttar pradesh. the whole process takes a lot of time and work from the hands. you have to stir and stir and stir. this is the first time i made this halwa. i was avoiding making the halwa all the times for obvious reasons. apart from this halwa you can make lot of recipes with moong dal like:
i would suggest to use non stick pan or kadai to make this moong dal halwa. in the step by step pics, you will know why.
moong dal halwa is delicious and one of the sweets you cannot stop eating.  but making this halwa takes a lot of time and effort. so make this halwa on a day when you have plenty of time, patience and energy.
few more halwa recipes you may like are:
moong dal halwa recipe
INGREDIENTS FOR moong dal halwa recipe
main ingredients for moong dal halwa
- 1 cup moong dal (spilt husked yellow mung lentils)
- 9 to 10 tablespoon ghee (clarified butter)
- 4 green cardamoms, husked and powdered in a mortar-pestle OR ¼ to ⅓ teaspoon cardamom powder (choti elaichi powder)
- 10 to 12 unsalted pistachios (pista) - sliced or chopped OR 10 to 12 blanched almonds (badam) - sliced
- 1 tablespoon golden raisins (kishmish)
to be mixed together
- 1 cup full fat whole milk
- 2 cups water
- 1 or 1.25 cups regular sugar or organic unrefined cane sugar * check notes
HOW TO MAKE moong dal halwa recipe
making moong dal paste
- soak the moong dal or mung lentils, in enough water overnight or for 4 to 5 hours.
- drain and then grind the moong dal to a smooth paste with 1/4 or 1/3 cup water.
making moong dal halwa
- melt ghee in a non stick pan. add the ground moong dal. stir well
- keep on stirring the halwa on a low to medium flame. the halwa has the raw aroma of the moong lentils and it should go away completely before you start with the next step. so till then you have to stir and cook the halwa.
- the halwa first is pasty, then starts getting lumpy and then starts breaking down and getting separated with the fat releasing from the sides. break the lumps while stirring.
- meanwhile when the halwa is cooking, in another pan or kadai, take milk, water and sugar. keep this pan on the stove top and stir so that the sugar dissolves. on a low or medium flame, heat this milk-water-sugar mixture till it comes to a boil.
- the moong dal mixture should reach a granular consistency before you add the hot milk mixture. you should get a fried aroma from the mung lentils and the color should become a light golden. the fat also should get separated.
- when the milk mixture comes to a boil, add it to the fried mung lentils.
- the mixture sizzles, so be careful while adding the hot milk and water mixture.
- stir well. simmer and cook stirring often.
- the liquid should get absorbed and once again you will see the ghee getting separated.
- lastly add cardamom powder, chopped pistachios and raisins.
- serve moong dal ka halwa hot. you can also garnish with some pistachios and serve.
RECIPE TIPS
* the recipe can be halved or doubled.
preparation to make moong dal halwa
1. soak 1 cup moong dal (spilt husked yellow mung lentils) in enough water overnight of for 4 to 5 hours. i soaked the lentils overnight.
2. drain and then grind the moong dal to a smooth paste with some water.
making moong dal halwa
3. melt 9 to 10 tbsp ghee (clarified butter).
4. add the ground moong dal.
5. stir well. you see in the pic, from the iron kadai the halwa has shifted to a non stick kadai. when stirring and mixing the halwa in the kadai, it started sticking so much. i did not want to do so much of work… scraping and stirring the halwa. so i shifted the whole halwa mixture to a non stick kadai. it was very very easy to stir the halwa then.
6. keep on stirring the halwa on a low to medium flame. the halwa has the raw aroma of the moong lentils and it should go away completely before you start with the next step. so till then you have to stir and cook the halwa. first the halwa is pasty, then starts getting lumpy and then starts breaking down and getting separated with fat releasing from the sides. in the pic below the halwa is at a stage where it resembles sooji halwa but still with the raw aroma of the mung lentils.
7. so while the halwa is cooking, in another pan or kadai, take 1 cup full fat whole milk, 2 cups water and 1 or 1.25 cups sugar. keep this pan on the stove top and stir so that the sugar dissolves. heat this milk-water-sugar mixture till it comes to  a boil.
8. meanwhile the moong dal has got separated. they have a granular consistency now. the aroma & color has also changed and the fat has separated.
9. the milk mixture has come to a boil and now needs to be added to the fried moong dal.
10. pour the boiling hot milk mixture to the fried mung lentils. the mixture sizzles, so be careful while adding the hot milk and water mixture.
11. stir well.
12. simmer and cook stirring often.
13. the liquid should get absorbed and once again you will see the ghee getting separated. done finally. it took me a total of about 1 hour to make the moong dal ka halwa on the stove top. add ¼ to ⅓ tsp cardamom powder, 10-12 chopped unsalted pistachios and 1 tbsp golden raisins. i forgot to take pic of this one. this is what too much of working and stirring with hands does to you.
14. take a breath of relief, thank your hands. serve moong dal ka halwa hot.
Can moong dal halwa be made with moong dal flour.
needs experimentation. the moong dal flour has to be coarsely ground. with a finely ground moong dal flour, the halwa can become pasty and sticky.
Very good
Beautiful halwa. I have tried this and its yummy.
thanks neha for the feedback. glad to know you liked the moong dal halwa recipe. thanks for the rating too.
Just tried this. As soon as I put the moong dhal paste in the ghee it got fried…and I couldnt get it to separate. Something went terribly wrong.
was the temperature too high? the ghee has must been very hot. the flame could have been switched off, the pan kept down on the countertop and then mixing the fried batter with the ghee. when the batter has been mixed well, the pan could have been kept back on the flame and cooked further. hope this helps.
Hi ,
I tried making halwa with same measurement ingredients but the halwa turned very soggy and creme color post mixing with milk water mixture .
I guess my milk water mixture was problem.
could be. if you would have cooked more, then the stickiness would have not been there.
Hey Dassana
Commenting for the first time but I have been a huge fan since long..even this halwa recipe was no exception…too good…!!!
thank you zeba. do comment whenever you have time. reviews and comments do help. thanks again.
A big thank you dear Dassana!!!!!! Made moong dal halwa for the very first time and your recipe created a miracle….. my family loved it….. halwa came out soooo well…. thanks a million once again 😊
thanks nidhi and glad to know. most welcome and happy cooking.
Can sugar be replaced with jaggery
yes
Split moong green cover should be discarded after soaking
Hi, I usually dry roast dal(till a good aroma and light golden colour appears) and cook for 2 whistles and 5-10 mins in simmer in water . That lowers cooking time, followed by mashing and adding it to ghee and milk then dry fruits. Hope it helps than stirring it long while.Thanks
thanks for sharing these super tips kalyani. it will sure help the blog readers.
The taste is better always when we roast it longer. Pressure cooker can’t help us make the same taste
It looks great..I will try it surely..thanks for sharing
Welcome Mamta
Dear Dassana
This is the first time I am writing to you. I am a great fan of your website and have started trying your recipes which are so we’ll explained and demonstrated step by step.
However my moong dal halwa remained very light and the colour didn’t change much. I kept roasting in ghee for almost 50 minutes till raw deal aroma was gone.
What to do next time?
thank a lot parizad. glad to read. regarding the moong dal halwa, the timing will vary with the type of pan you are using – size, thickness and type of material. also the intensity of flame is considered. most modern kitchen stoves do not have full pressure on the flame in the burners. this was explained to me when i had gone to buy a stove for my kitchen. as a result such burners are not suited for indian cooking where especially while frying which requires high heat. only a few models in various brands of the gas stoves will have a good pressure in the flame. so here when you see that the cooking is considerably taking a long time, then increase the flame and cook. this is also what i do when i use pretty heavy pans for cooking. hope this helps.
Hi amit.
I followed the recipe in toto. But my halwa is not leaving ghee as expected and has dried up as well. Can I do anything now to make it as it should be?
pranita, just add some boiling hot water in parts and mix well. the dryness will go away and you will get a smooth halwa texture. do not cook further if the consistency is like halwa. if the consistency has become slightly thin, then cook on low flame for some minutes till you get a halwa like consistency.
Thanking your hands… I liked that! well said :))
thanks.
I made it and my family loved it!!! I was so apprehensive about making it but thanks to your detailed notes where you mentioned that first the batter will be pasty then lumpy and finally it will separate else i would have thought that i messed up!! Thanks so so much and pls do not delete your app 😢
Welcome Pallavi. Glad to know that instructions helped you to make this moong dal halwa. Its becoming difficult to manage the app. you can check the recipes in the website as the app is the exact replica of website. in fact website is better than app.