Multan's famous sweet · Caramel set

Sohan Halwa Recipe (Multani Brittle Halwa)

Patient caramel. Ghee in stages. Set thin.

Recipe by Farwa ZeeshanTested in the NineFoods home kitchen

Sohan halwa is the dense, chewy and caramelised sweet of Multan, packed with nuts and sold in round tins. It turns sticky or rock hard when the sugar stage is wrong. The fix is cooking the milk and flour paste slowly, adding sugar and ghee in stages, and stopping when the mass turns deep brown and ghee separates.

Prep15m

Cook1h 10m

Servings16

kcal / serving310

LevelHard

Jump to the method

The 3 laws of sohan halwa

Why this recipe works

Slow caramel

High heat

Even colour, no burning.

Ghee in stages

All at once

Proper texture and gloss.

Set thin

Thick slab

Easy to cut, chewy bite.

Shopping and prep list

Ingredients

Servings

Tap items as you gather them · 0 of 0 ready

The NineFoods sohan gauge

When do I stop?

Look at the colour and the ghee.

Tap a stage to see what to do.

Method · 3 stages

Step by step

Curdle

Medium · 20 min

Boil milk, add lemon so it curdles, then whisk in flour; cook to a paste.

Look for: thick paste.

20:00

Caramelise

Medium · 45 min

Add sugar and ghee in stages, stirring until deep brown. Use the gauge above.

Look for: glossy brown halwa.

45:00

Set

No heat · 30 min

Add cardamom and nuts, spread on a greased tray, cool and cut.

Look for: sohan halwa.

30:00

Chef's troubleshooter

What went wrong? Pick the symptom

Why

Undercooked.

Fix next time

Cook until ghee separates.

Why

Overcooked sugar.

Fix next time

Stop at deep brown.

Why

Burnt.

Fix next time

Medium heat and constant stirring.

Why

Too much ghee.

Fix next time

Pour off excess ghee.

Swap smart

Ingredient roles and substitutes

Ingredient	Job in the dish	Swap with
Sprouted wheat	Traditional	Plain wheat flour
Desi ghee	Flavour	Butter ghee
Mixed nuts	Crunch	Almonds only
Sugar	Caramel	Brown sugar

After the meal

Serve, store, reheat

Serve with

Tea, or as a gift tin.

Store

Airtight 1 month.

Reheat

Not needed.

How we tested this recipe

Tested in a home kitchen, not a studio

Recipe developed and tested by Farwa Zeeshan, who cooks and tests every NineFoods recipe on a regular home stove.

Cooked from start to finish with the exact quantities above for 16 servings, using both the metric and US cup measures.
Every one of the 3 stages was timed at the stove; heat levels and the 'look for' cues are what we saw in the pan.
The doneness check (when do i stop) and the troubleshooter come from batches that went wrong, and how we fixed them.
Reheating and storage advice was checked on leftovers, not guessed.

Read our full testing process

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