Ghevar (घेवर) or honey comb dessert is an Indian delicacy from the Rajasthani cuisine, made on festivals in monsoon season like Teej and Rakhsha Bandhan. Ghevar is way different from other usual Indian sweets. It has a unique taste. Continue reading to find details of ghevar (also called malai ghevar) and ghevar recipe.

What is Ghevar

Ghevar is a round plate-shaped sweet normally 8 – 10 inch in radius. It is made from ghee/oil, flour and sugar syrup. There are many varieties of Ghevar such as Plain, Mawa / Rabri and malai Ghevar.

You will find this dessert in monsoon season in almost every sweet shop in Rajasthan, UP and Delhi part of India. However, if you are in a foreign country, then its really difficult for you to find ghevar sweet.

There is scientific reason why ghevar is available mostly during Rakhi and Teej. These festivals normally fall in July or August. As per ayurveda, these are the months which cause dryness and acidity in the whole body, contributing to mood swings and restlessness. That’s why ancestors in India devised a sweet which is super sweet and ghee rich, as these two things provide relief from moist environment and acidity. Thus giving calmness to mind.

Being here in UK for many years now, I was never able to find and relish this sweet here. Struggling to find this for last so many years, I decided to make it at home back in 2016. Since then have been successfully making ghevar at home every year.

How to make Ghevar | YourFoodFantasy.com — Malai Ghevar Sweet

Method of making ghevar

There are four steps

Getting basic / Raw part ready

Take a big bowl and put Clarified Butter/Desi Ghee in it. Add the ice cubes and start whisking them together until the ghee turns to a cream like consistency. Now remove the ice cubes and whisk the butter until its smooth.
Add all purpose flour and milk to it in small amounts and keep whisking them regularly so that there is no lumps made.
Once all the milk and flour is mixed, start adding water slowly with regular whisking again. Make a smooth running consistency batter by using water as required. Add lemon juice and whisk it properly again. Lemon juice helps in binding the flour mix while frying.
Take a round deep and flat bottomed Pan / Kadhai and fill more than half of it with ghee. Heat it on high flame till the ghee gets really hot.
Once the ghee is hot, take ladle full of batter and pour it in the middle of the pan in a thin stream. After pouring ladle full batter, wait for at least one minute till the bubbles settles and then pour the second batch and so on. Keep sure that there is a hole in centre and keep pushing the batter towards the outer side, like forming a circle in the middle.
Pour little batter on the sides of pan too to make it perfect round. Once you have poured enough batter, let the ghevar fry for few good minutes till its golden brown in colour. Try to rotate your ghee in the pan / kadhai while frying which helps in evenly frying of the ghevar.
Once its fried properly, take it out very carefully by inserting that thin skewer/stick in the middle hole and lifting the whole ghevar with it.
Keep the ghevar slightly tilted on a plate to remove excess oil.

Making sugar syrup

To make sugar syrup, add sugar and water in a pan and let them boil. Add milk to remove the impurities, once it starts boiling. The scum will start collecting on the sides . Remove it and let your syrup boil till it reaches to 1.5 string consistency. Switch off the heat and let it cool for sometime.

Making Rabdi

To make Rabri, by taking the milk in a heavy bottommed pan and boiling it till it reduces to 1/3rd of its original quantity. Keep stirring in between so as the milk don’t stick to the bottom. Add sugar and Cardamom powder and mix well.

Assembling ghevar

Put 2 skewers on the sugar syrup pan and place your one round of ghevar on it. Start Pouring Sugar syrup on ghevar. Pour the syrup everywhere on the ghevar.
Top it up with rabri and carefully place it on to a plate so that excess syrup is released.
Garnish them with chopped nuts

Ghevar - an Indian sweet | YourFoodFantasy.com — Malai Ghevar Recipe | Your Food Fantasy

Pro tips for ghevar making

Make sure you use a deep and thick bottom pan to fry Ghevar. When Ghevar batter is poured in the ghee it splatters, so if you use shallow vessel then ghee will spill out of the vessel.
Always use ice cold water and cold milk to make batter as it prevents the ghee separating from the batter when whisked continuously.
Always handle the fried Ghevar very carefully as they are really delicate and can crack very easily if not handled properly.
You can prepare rabdi in advance.
Make a smooth running consistency batter, adding lemon juice helps in binding the flour mix while frying.
Before frying it in oil, check the temperature of oil is correct. You can check the correct temperature by dropping a small portion of the batter and see if it immediately comes up, and doesn’t stick to the bottom.
Whilst frying, when pouring the batter into the centre of pot, it spreads around the corner and lift up in the ghee. Keep making space in centre by using a skewer/round stick to pour more batter after the previous batch has settled

Storage

You can store the Ghevar with sugar syrup for almost 2 weeks in an air tight container, but if you using Rabri then its recommended to finish in 2-3 days as rabri tends to perish in 3-4 days.