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Pistachio and cardamom halva
Serves 10-12 (Start 1 day before serving) Desserts and puddings
Ingredients
- olive oil, to grease
- 8 cardamom pods, seeds removed and finely ground
- 50g pistachios, roughly chopped
- 250g tahini
- ½tsp vanilla extract
- ½tsp fine sea salt
- 230g caster sugar
Method
The day before, grease a 2lb loaf tin with a little oil, then line it with cling film, allowing it to overhang the edges of the tin. Put the ground cardamom seeds in a large mixing bowl with 30g of the chopped pistachios, the tahini, vanilla and sea salt and beat until smooth.
Put the sugar and 75ml water in a medium saucepan and gently bring to the boil over a medium heat. Gently swirl the pan, but do not stir the syrup or the sugar will crystallise. Once it starts to bubble, reduce the heat to low and leave to simmer for around 12–15 minutes, until it reaches 121C on a cook’s thermometer - it should be a thick syrup. Add the tahini mixture to the pan (not the other way round - the mixture needs to stay in the warm pan so it doesn’t cool down) and quickly beat the two elements together for around 30 seconds with a wooden spoon or spatula to make a smooth paste. Try not to overwork it as this will make the halva crumbly.
As soon as it is smoothly combined, spoon it into the prepared tin and press the remaining pistachios on top. Leave to cool, then cover with the edges of the cling film and transfer to the fridge to set overnight before serving.
This recipe is from the May 2022 issue of Food and Travel. To subscribe today, click here.
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