Halva (Χαλβάς)

Greek halva is a simple Greek vegan dessert made with semolina.

Have you ever made a bowl of Cream of Wheat cereal and not been able to eat it right away?  Maybe you had to tend to a fussy baby, a pesky telemarketer or a parcel delivery (hurray for on-line shopping).  No matter the interruption, when you finally settled in to add milk to your porridge, you were faced with a solid mass of wheat semolina.  The fact that, as semolina sits it firms up, is what halva banks on.

The Greek halva recipe which we are sharing here is grain-based and not the same thing as the nut butter or tahini based crumbly dessert with which it is often confused (no kidding, since they both go by the same name!).  This halva is semolina based and has a soft and somewhat gelatinous texture.  It is a great dessert to pull together when you have unexpected company or a sudden onset of sweet tooth-itis.  Because halva is not baked, it can be made quite quickly, and is ready to eat as soon as it cools and retains it’s shape.   An added bonus is that halva does not contain eggs or any dairy products, making it a wonderful treat for anyone following a vegan diet or for those abstaining from eggs and dairy during lent.

Helpful hints

We don’t want to scare you away from making this recipe, but we do want to be sure you are aware that when you combine the sugar syrup to the semolina mixture, you may have some splattering.  For this reason, it is very important to cook the semolina in a large, deep pot, and to add the liquid syrup slowly, and off the heat.

When we make halva we usually allow it to take shape in a bundt pan or a jell-o ring mould. You can use anything to shape this dessert however.  We have made halva by pouring it into a rectangular baking pan, and then cutting square serving pieces. We have allowed it to set in silicone teddy bear moulds (just because we had them). We once even used a small cookie scooper to make balls of halva which we allowed to cool on a baking sheet.  The possibilities are endless, however we still find that the bundt pan or round jell-o mould give the prettiest presentation.  No matter what you use, be sure that it is heat resistant as you will add the halva to it while it is still hot.

We have noticed that some halvas appear to be a bit darker than our parents is.  We think that this is because many people add ground cinnamon to their halva, whereas our parents use cinnamon sticks to flavour the syrup; this way you get a more subtle cinnamon taste without darkening the halva too much.

Our parents like to add raisins to their halva, but consider the semolina base to be your blank canvas; you can experiment with your add-ins.  In case you would like some inspiration, we have also made halva by adding slivered almonds, dried cranberries, pine nuts and various combinations of these.

Looking for another Greek halva recipe? Try these:

Chocolate halva

Apple and raspberry halva

Halva with cactus pear walnuts and lavender

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