Halva is a dense, rich Middle Eastern dessert made of water, sugar, and flour. It's often flavoured with nuts or sesame seeds. Our friends at Mediterranean Delicacies have taken things to a whole new level with their recently launched range, now in stores here in South Africa. Think vanilla, cocoa, pistachio and hazelnut just for a start. I don't know about you but that takes my mind on a fanciful food journey to all sorts of exotic destinations. In this case, I've mixed some of their beautiful pistachio nut halva with a basic white chocolate ganache, and then rolled them into little bite-sized truffles and coated them in pistachio-nut dust. The result? Sublime. The input? Embarrassingly little.
Ingredients:- 100g white chocolate, roughly chopped
- 2-3 Tbsp. cream
- 1 tub of Mediterranean Delicacies Pistachio Nut Halva
- 1/4 cup pistachio nuts
Method:
1. Place the white chocolate pieces into a bowl and microwave for 30 second bursts until melted (about 2 minutes). Stir with a whisk until it has a silky consistency. Be careful not to over-cook and burn the chocolate.
2. Pour in the cream, and then crumble in the halva and mix everything together until combined. Pour the mixture out onto a dinner plate and place in the freezer for about 5 minutes until firm.
3. Scoop the chocolate mixture off the plate with a spoon, and roll into little truffles. Then, crush the pistachio nuts as finely as possible, I like to use a coffee grinder for a really fine result. Coat the truffles in the pistachio nut 'dust' and refrigerate until serving. Delicious as an after dinner treat with tea or coffee which is how they traditionally eat Halva in the Middle East.