Kashmiri Halwa

• Place a deep bottom kadai on medium-low heat and dry roast the oats till their color changes to golden.
• Add a little ghee, if you want to the oats at this stage, and you can sauté it lightly too. Cover it and set it aside.
• Place a non-stick skillet over medium heat and add some ghee to it. Add all the dry fruits (cashew nuts, raisins, and almonds) to the skillet with the hot ghee and sauté them well until golden brown. Set it aside once done.
• Place a pan with milk on the stove. Add sugar and bring it to a rolling boil.
• Keep stirring it continuously to dissolve the sugar and prevent it from burning. Add a pinch of saffron to the milk and keep stirring it till the color of the milk changes to a light yellow.
• Add the roasted oats to the milk once the sugar is completely dissolved. Give it a good mix.
• Add some more ghee to the oats and milk mixture if necessary at this point. It will escalate your flavor. Sprinkle the cardamom powder on the oats and milk mixture next and mix it evenly.
• Add half of the sautéed dry fruits to the oats and milk mixture and stir it well. Keep stirring the milk and oats mixture until the water evaporates considerably and the mixture sticks no more to the side of the pan.
• Turn the heat off and then garnish the content in the pan with the rest of the sautéed dry fruits. Serve it hot or refrigerate it to serve it chilled later.

Trivia

Oats enjoy an almost national status in Britain, especially in Scotland, where it is the base staple for almost all food. The first ever oats bread factory was established in Scotland in the late 19^th Century. Oats are a big source for brewing local beer all over Britain today. Caudle, a drink brewed from oats, happened to be the favorite drink of the famous 17^th Century English political leader Oliver Cromwell. Today, Russia is the largest producer of oats with almost 21% of the world’s total production.