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Omani Halwa

Name: Omani Halwa
Total time: 120 min
Yield: Serves 10
Cuisine: Oman
Ingredients: 60g Cornstarch; 200g Sugar; 50g Brown sugar; 600ml Water; 80g Butter; A pinch Saffron; 1 tsp Cardamom powder; 1 tbsp Rose water; 30g Almonds; A pinch Nutmeg

Dessert

⏱ 120 min

👥 Serves 10

Difficulty ⭐⭐⭐

Sugar, starch, and ghee stirred for hours with saffron and rose water — Oman's sweet of hospitality.

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📖 The Story Behind This Dish

Omani halwa is Oman's signature traditional sweet: sugar, starch, ghee, eggs, and more are stirred for hours in a big pot and scented with saffron, cardamom, and rose water. A glossy amber, chewy sweet, it's always served with kahwa (coffee) when welcoming guests. At specialty shops, craftsmen stir big pots over wood fires.

🌆 Where it's eaten: At a halwa shop in Nizwa's traditional market, a craftsman keeps stirring amber sweet in a big copper pot with a long stick as bowls line the shopfront.

🥕 Ingredients (serves 10)

Cornstarch 60g
Sugar 200g
Brown sugar 50g
Water 600ml
Butter 80g
Saffron A pinch
Cardamom powder 1 tsp
Rose water 1 tbsp
Almonds 30g
Nutmeg A pinch

👩‍🍳 Instructions

Dissolve the cornstarch in 200ml water.
Dissolve the sugar, dark sugar, and 400ml water in a pot and boil down until caramel-colored.
Add the dissolved cornstarch little by little and keep stirring constantly over low heat.
Add the butter in several additions and stir for 30–40 minutes until glossy and pulling away from the pot.
Mix in the saffron, cardamom, rose water, nutmeg, and chopped almonds, pour into dishes, and let cool.

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