1. Clean and Wash the dal and soak for 1 hour.

2. Boil with 4 cup water. Remove when all the moisture evaporates. Grind with a grinding stone.

3. Okay don't get scared, you can use a grinder instead of a grinding stone.

4. Make syrup with sugar and 1 1/2 cup water. Keep aside.

5. Heat ghee in a heavy bottomed pan and fry dal paste till it becomes brown (it will look fried brown, but don't burn it).

6. Then pour sugar syrup gradually, while stirring constantly. There should not be any lumps.

7. Now add cardamom, raisin, and rose water. Stir occasionally until halwa leaves the sides of the vessel (it won't stick).

8. Remove to a serving bowl.

9. Blanch* and peel almonds and pista and cut into thin slices (slivers).

10. Garnish with almond and pista slices.

11. Serve warm with hot paratha (or like me, grab a spoon, scoop as much as you can and shove it in your mouth).

This dish is a fabulous dish, and is made in Bengali Muslim families during shab-e-barat. It tastes A-W-E-S-O-M-E. Try it at least once in your lifetime. Its very easy to cook, and a has a very tolerant cooking process. Perfect for amateur cooks, just be careful in step 5 to not burn it and not undercook it. It will look dark brown, like light chocolate, when done right.

I personally don't prefer the almond/pista garnish. I like the smooth texture without any solid pieces. You too can skip 9-10 if you wan't.

By the way, if you are calorie consious, and will never excercise, don't eat this too frequently. At our home we have this ONLY ONCE IN A YEAR.

This is technically a dessert, but it is so heavy that it really is the main dish. You can't eat anything after this (unless you happen to be a guy I know, who goes by the name Swarup).

Note 1: Blanch means to dunk stuff in boiling water, and take it out quickly and dunk in ice cold water. 

Note 2: Heat up halwa before each serving. Don't eat it cold.