On food and nostalgia

Yesterday, after baking some bread, i decided to try making halva, a dessert often made in India and which my grandmother and auntie faithfully made every year to usher in the Indian new year.

(Lightly toast 2 cups of semolina and set aside. Brown 1 cup of cashews in olive oil and set aside. Bring 4 cups of water to the boil and then add 7-9 tablespoons of caster sugar and some saffron powder to the water. Remove from stove. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt about 50g of butter or ghee. When melted, add in 1-2 teaspoons of ground cardamon. At this point, you should get a wonderful aroma. If not, add in more cardamon. Stir in the toasted semolina and mix well. Then slowly add the sugar water, making sure to stir well simultaneously to avoid lumps forming. Add the cashews and stir. Once thickened, remove from heat and place in a 8 x 8 dish. Flatten with the back of a spoon and let cool. Eat with some sweet tea.)

It made me feel very close to my grandmother and my auntie as i cooked this, knowing that they had cooked it many times before. As the smell of the cardamon hit me, i was taken back to my auntie's kitchen where all sorts of sweet things were made with love. As i had my first bite of the halva, i could almost see myself in her kitchen, sitting at the table as she cut me piece after piece to eat.