Banana Coconut Halwa Recipe
Banana Coconut Halwa is a traditional Maharashtrian dish cooked mainly whenever there is any pooja in our house.
It’s an easy to cook dessert ready within 30 min.
Whenever we have a pooja in house, there are lots of coconuts and bananas which are offered as prasad to the god. Since it is said that the prasad should not be used to cook anything spicy , I end up making this halwa after any big pooja celebration in house.
Whom is it best suited for ???? Obviously people who love bananas. I haven’t come across a single one who doesn’t.
Instead of baking a Banana Bread or preparing Banana Puri or eating the banana as is , by family demand I cook the Banana Coconut halwa.
My personal usage for it is as comfort food when I need some instant energy or just something not to sweet on the palate. The best variety of bananas to be used for this recipe are called as Rajeli (in local konkan region).
केळ or Bananas are loaded with nutrients.
Bananas are a very good source of vitamin B6, C , potassium, manganese, dietary fibre.
Cook them with ghee, coconut, jaggery/sugar, mixed nuts,cardamom,saffron and you have an wholesome comforting dessert.
Banana Halwa /केळ्याचा हलवा is normally cooled and cut into squares or just stored as is topped with nuts. But since I prepared it in Ganpati season as prasad for our Bappa, I shaped it into Modaks using a Modak mould since Modaks are Bappa’s favorite prasad.
Apart from this Bananas is also consumed fresh as शिकरण or Shikaran. You can find the recipe here. Anyone from Maharashtrian household will identify शिकरण पोळी (Shikaran Poli) as their childhood favorite dish.
Adding ghee , fresh coconut reduces the GI index of the recipe making it good for those who wish to lose weight, control sugar intake and overall retain good health.
You can add nuts like Almonds and cashew nuts to the recipe to make it tastier and healthier.
For detailed recipe check below. Don’t forget to like,share, rate and subscribe.
| Prep Time | 15 minutes |
| Cook Time | 30 min |
| Servings |
Modaks
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- 6 Bananas
- 2 Cups Freshly Grated Coconut
- 6 TBSp Sugar / Grated Jaggery (Gud)
- 1 TBSp Cardamom Powder
- 7-8 Strands Saffron
- 1 Tsp Fresh Nutmeg Powder
- 2 TBSp Ghee
Ingredients
|
|
- Grate the coconut, do not take the bottom most coconut as it will be brown in color. Use it to prepare chutneys instead
- Peel and cut the bananas into small pieces
- Prepare the cardamom powder by removing the seeds from pods and grinding them in a mixer
- Grate the whole nutmeg to get the fresh nutmeg powder
- In a thick bottomed vessel mix bananas, freshly grated coconut, sugar and ghee and cook on a low medium flame
- Cook everything till the mixture becomes thick and starts leaving the sides of the pan. You can add few spoons of semolina / rice flour if the mixture seems a bit runny even after cooking for 15 minutes
- Remove from flame and cool a bit. Add cardamom powder, nutmeg powder and saffrons strands
- Cool them in the refrigerator and mould them into squares, balls or any shape of your choice.
- Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for 7-8 days
For other recipes using Coconut as main ingredient check below :
If you want to understand how to identify a good coconut. Check the link here.
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