Kelyacha Halwa/ Banana Halwa

I haven't posted many traditional dessert recipes yet. So I thought of posting this simple halwa recipe to end this weekend on a sweet note!

Kelyacha Halwa is a traditional Maharashtrian/ Goan Halwa recipe. My mom made this very often when we were kids and we loved having it with chapati. However, it can be served just by itself as dessert or also with some ice cream. This is typically made from special bananas called rajali keli/ bananas. I couldn’t find these in any Indian grocery stores in our area. So I used regular ripe yellow bananas for this recipe and it came out super delicious.

Ingredients -
3 ripe bananas
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsps ghee/ clarified butter
2 cloves
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
1 pinch kesar

Method -
1. Peel the bananas and chop them into thick round slices.
2. Add sugar to the banana slices and mix together.
3. Heat the ghee/ clarified butter in a pan and add the cloves. When they crackle add the banana slices.
4. Cook the bananas by covering the pan for 7-10 minutes on low heat till the sugar has melted and bananas are slightly cooked and tender. Stir occasionally to make sure the bananas dont stick to the bottom of the pan.
5. Add some cardamom powder and kesar and mix together. Can be served warm or cold according to your preference.

I'm sending this to Nivedita's 'Celebrate Sweets -Halwa' event.