Apples- Almonds-Cashews Milk Halwa

The blogosphere is raining with sweets and savouries for Diwali! Being a part of it and being in the mid of the most happening city for Diwali, it would be a shame to not post a single recipe on Diwali specials! With best wishes for a happy and prosperous Diwali here is a recipe using the forbidden fruit and milk. I have posted a simpler microwave version of this recipe using Ricotta cheese & Apple. This recipe calls for a lot of time and patience but the end result is worth all the effort:-) One among many of my MIL's specialty recipes! So go on and give it a try but make sure you have another extra hand to help you with the process.....this recipe calls for continuous stirring of the ingredients:-)

Ingredients:
- 750 ml milk( 3 cups + 2 tbsp)
- 1-1/2 cups sugar (adjust as per choice)
- 1 tin sweetened condensed milk (I used 400gm amul condensed milk)
- 3 apples
- 3 tbsp almonds
- 2 tbsp cashews
- 1 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
- few saffron strands soaked in 1 tsp of milk

Prep time: 30 mins           Cook time: 2 hours

Preparation:

- Soak the almonds and cashews separately in warm water for 30 minutes.

After soaking

 - In a large deep pan, heat the milk and once it comes to a boil, lower the heat and let the milk simmer for 30 minutes until it reduces to half the quantity.
- Keep stirring the milk every 5 minutes to make sure it does not coat and stick to the pan.
- Meanwhile, peel the skin of the almonds and apples. Core the apples and cut them into big pieces.

- Add the cashews, almonds and apples to a blender and make a fine or coarse paste as per your preference.
- If needed add 1 or 2 tbsp of milk to grind the apples and nuts.
- When the milk has reduced to half, add the apple-nuts paste, sugar and ghee to the pan and stir them all together.

 - From now, you need to keep stirring the mixture for atleast one and half hours to reach the halwa consistency. Now is when you will need that extra hand to help you:-))

- Keep the heat on low through the whole process. High heat will cause th mix to boil and spill all over the counter.
- Towards the end add the saffrom strands for added colour and flavour.
- When all the ingredients thicken and come together without sticking on to the pan, you know your halwa is ready!

Foot note:

- If you have more patience, you can stir it for a little more time to thicken the halwa more and then spread it on a greased plate. On cooling, you can slice into cake pieces as well!