It’s the season of pumpkins, and how can I give it a miss! Add to that, one of the biggest festivals in India, the festival of lights and colours, Deepavali is here! What can be more special than bringing in the richness of almonds to sandwich the seasonal delicacy, pumpkin halwa?!! The nutty flavour of almonds amalgamates with the juicy pumpkin halwa within, to bring in the rich combo – Badam Katli Pumpkin Halwa Sandwich!!!
Among the numerous unique dishes possible with pumpkin, this one is super easy as well as quick to prepare if you have all the ingredients in place. In particular, this dish is especially for the working families out there!!! You can prepare a grand sweet at home, for the festival, in between your busy work schedule – just like how I had!!! Besides, the satisfaction of tagging the dishes as ‘Homemade’ is something which is beyond words.
Wishing all my dear friends celebrating the festival, a very happy and prosperous Deepavali/Diwali 🙂
Few other pumpkin recipes that might interest you are here.
So, here we go!!!
Total Time: 50 minutes
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients :
Badam Katli
Powdered Almond / Almond Flour: 1 cup
Brown Sugar: 0.5 cup
Cardamom Powder: 0.25 tsp.
Water: 0.25 cup
Ghee: 1 tsp.
Pumpkin Halwa
Grated Pumpkin: 3 cups
Brown Sugar: 1.5 cups
Ghee: 2 tbsp.
Cardamom: 0.5 tsp.
Salt: A pinch
Method:
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Quick Video :
Badam Katli Pumpkin Halwa Sandwich:
- Prepare Pumpkin Halwa as described in the ‘Pumpkin Halwa’ section below
- Prepare Badam Katli as described in the ‘ Badam Katli’ section below
- Once both the above are ready and cool, take 2 pieces of badam katli at a time
- Transfer a spoonful of pumpkin halwa over a piece of badam katli and spread it. Place the other piece over it and adjust the edges
- Repeat the above process with the remaining pieces
Pumpkin Halwa:
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes- In a pan, add a tsp. of ghee and fry the grated pumpkin until the water evapourates and the raw smell of the vegetable goes and it is slightly cooked. This might take about 6 to 8 minutes over medium heat (you may add little water in the process, if required. I haven’t used extra water here though)
- Next, add sugar and give it a mix. Continue cooking for about 5 to 10 minutes over medium heat or until the entire halwa binds together
- Add cardamom powder and a pinch of salt. Add the remaining ghee and mix well. Cook for another minute and remove from heat
Keep aside. Pumpkin Halwa is ready!
Badam Katli:
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes- In a pan, add water and sugar. Bring it to boil dissolving the sugar completely
- Add the almond powder, cardamom powder and ghee. Bring along all the ingredients and keep stirring while ensuring no lumps are formed
- Cook on medium heat until the mixture leaves the pan (You can test for the completeness by taking a small amount into your hand. If you are able to form a non sticky ball, it is done). It should take about 8 to 10 minutes on medium heat
- Transfer the mass on to a baking sheet / parchment paper. Lay another layer of baking sheet over it and gently roll to form a sheet katli
- Remove the upper layer of baking sheet and carefully cut into equal pieces. Let it cool
Badam Katli is ready !
Badam Katli Pumpkin Halwa Sadwich – Ready to relish !!!
Note :
- Almond Flour / Almond Powder : Here, I have used ‘ Mandeln Gemahlen’ which is nothing but powdered almonds along with the skin. It is easily available in any super market, here in Germany, under the baking section. If not this, you may use almond flour, which again is easily available in any super market. If neither of the two is available, but you have access to whole almonds, there you go, you still can proceed with it. You can either soak the almonds in water, dehusk them, dry them completely and powder, or, powder the almonds directly and use! No, I haven’t roasted the almond powder / flour here and it didn’t taste raw either.
- You can completely replace almond flour with cashew flour, if you are not very fond of almonds in general
- Just about 1/4th of the total pumpkin halwa prepared above is utilised for the katli halwa sandwich. If required, you can reduce the quantity of the halwa prepared or increase the quantity of katli.
- Refrigerate the katli halwa sandwich and it will last for a week (in the unlikely event of stocks lasting for so long!!!)
Katli Halwa Sandwich Stories :
During the season of pumpkins, that is September and October months every year, Ludwigsburg in Germany hosts the world’s largest pumpkin festival displaying over 450,000 pumpkins of various types, colours and sizes. One gets to see different art work and giant carvings using pumpkins, besides being able to taste numerous pumpin based delicacies, spread across several food stalls. This time when we had been there, we were awestruck looking at the delicacies like pumpkin soup made of pumpkin flesh and cooked with pumpkin oil, with pumpkin seeds as toppings!!! Now, that’s a fine buffet of vegetarian pumpkin delicacies – Pumpkin shorba, pumpkin noodles, pumpkin cake, pumpkin pommes, pumpkin pickles, pumpkin sauces, pumpkin chutneys, pumpkin strudels, pumpkin burgers and what not!!!
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