Un Helvası - A Turkish Classic

I know it has been a while since my last post, but I just wanted to let you know that I am alive and I have been cooking. I didn't write much because I had tons and tons of schoolwork to do. I am sorry. 
Today I am going to share a very typical Turkish dessert with you. It is the most famous "un helvası".

There are 3 types of halva in Turkey; semolina, tahini and flour. Un Helvası is a flour-based halva, a kind of dessert. It is really hard to get the exact consistency of this recipe that's why some people avoid cooking this. However it is actually very easy. 

Helva is usually cooked for funerals here in Turkey but I don't only cook this for funerals. This should be a happy family recipe instead of something that you eat when you are in grief. It is so yummy that I believe it should be cooked more often. For example last week was our neighbor's birthday. I knew that he loves this so I prepared him a plateful of un helvası and he was thrilled. I mean you don't have to cook this only for funerals. Do not force yourselves to follow every single tradition. Just create your own way of things. 

You should be prepared to get tired while cooking this one because it needs a lot of patience and some arm strength. It is a nice way to work those arms out with this recipe because you will need to stir consistently to get the perfect color and taste from the recipe. It is also perfect for midnight sweet tooth cravings. 

When I was cooking with my grandmother, the person who thought me how to cook the flour halva and many other things, she gave me the measurements however some of them were like "just enough until it covers the flour".  I mean what language is this? A tablespoon is enough for me but for someone else a little bit more is better. So here is the official recipe with exact measurements for everyone out there in the world. 





Ingredients:
3 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup wheat flour
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
1 cup water
2 tablespoon of crushed hazelnuts

Directions:
1) Add in the flour, butter, oil and crushed hazelnuts in a pot. Saute this mixture until your flour is golden brown for about 20 minutes. Stir constantly so that in the end you'll get a nice evenly golden brown flour mixture.

2) In a separate bowl mix the water and sugar. And no you do not need to boil this mixture to make a sherbet. We will just use this as sugary water. Let it wait and stir it until the sugar dissolves. (not all of the sugar will dissolve, do not worry).

3) When the flour is golden brown add in the sugary water that you prepared. Continue stirring. Do not stop stirring until you get a paste thick consistency, about 6-8 minutes. 

4) Take it away from the stove and shape the halva by using a spoon or an ice cream scoop. 

Enjoy.