Bombay ice halwa recipe, Mahim halwa, Paper halwa

Bombay ice halwa/ Mahim halwa/ Paper halwa is a very rich and delicious sweet loaded with nuts and saffron as topping. Bombay ice halwa comes in thin sheets of squares with a unique texture and taste. Bombay ice halwa/ Mahim halwa is very different in appearance and making as well unlike regular halwa but undoubtedly with great taste. I learnt this recipe from my aunt who is an expert at making this halwa and I followed every step that she mentioned in the preparation which resulted in great texture and taste as well. I have heard her say that this bombay ice halwa comes in 2 colors yellow and white. Yellow color is achieved either by adding saffron strands or edible food color which I skipped as I love this halwa in white color.

And also have heard from lot of them say that this halwa can be prepared either with cornstarch or maida or sooji/ rava, well the traditional recipe is made with cornstarch but me and I my hubby liked the one with sooji/ rava better for no reason, hence the below halwa recipe is made with sooji/ rava acting as key ingredient in a very simple method with few other basic ingredients. The preparation time is is very less compared to the drying time as it is bit too long and requires a lot of patience, otherwise it is a yummy recipe which it worth the wait.

This bombay halwa is very easy to prepare but attaining proper texture is little tricky, but its ok if you don’t get it right the very first time. I usually make this halwa at night and allow it to dry overnight so that it stays undisturbed as we keep on touching it to taste it as these so yummy. It took me 1 full day to get both sides dry, but if you wnt to skip the drying method you can refrigerate it for sometime and then serve it if you are really out of time, but I suggest you to dry it naturally as it will be very tasty that way. This halwa keeps well for about a week in air tight container. So lets get to the making!

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Ingredients

Sooji/ Semolia/ Rava – ¼ cup
Milk – 1 cup
Sugar – ½ cup
Ghee – ¼ cup + 1 tbsp

Ingredients For garnish

Cashews – 4 to 6
Pistachios – 6 to 8
Almonds – 6
Cardamom powder – ¼ tsp
Saffron stand – 10

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How to make Bombay ice halwa with step by step images

Chop all the nuts and mix nuts and cardamom powder together and keep it aside.
Cut 2 pieces of long parchment paper/ foil. Grease one paper with little ghee and keep it aside.
Heat a pan add sooji/ rava, sugar, milk and ghee. Mix well and cook in medium flame.
Keep stirring and the mixture will start to boil and start thickening gradually. When it starts thickening stir it continuously so that the sooji/ rava mixture will form like a dough and start leaving the pan.
When the mixture has formed a ball leaving the pan add 1 tbsp ghee. Incorporate the ghee in it and put off the flame.
Now transfer the sooji/ rava dough ball onto the greased parchment paper/ foil. Place another parchment paper/ foil/ any plastic cover over it.
Roll the dough thin using a rolling pin oven the second sheet. (Roll it gently). Make sure to roll it just thin and not too thin as it might break when we take it after drying.
Now remove the second sheet from the top of the rolled sooji mixture and garnish it with nuts, saffron strand and cardamom powder. Roll it once again using a rolling pin gently so that the nuts stick to the dough.
Now using a knife slice the rolled dough gently into shapes and sizes of your choice. I cut it into 4 inch sheet just like the store ones.
When done with slicing allow the halwa to dry out completely until they are firm to lift and hold like sheets. It took me more than 12 hours to dry one side and another 12 hours the other side. So time may vary according to the thickness of the rolled dough and the consistency of the sooji mixture.
Next day gently lift the pieces and flip it to the other side to dry. This took me 12 hours again to dry.
So after 24 hours my bombay ice halwa/ paper halwa was ready to be served!