Helva

Posted by Debbie Kwiatoski Aug 17, 2007

One of the most basic things my grandmother used to make for us when we were little is Helva. I'm not talking about the tooth-jarringly sweet ground sesame seed and sugar version that you can buy just about anywhere today - even when I was young, you could but the sesame seed variety in the dairy section of our local supermarket. I think Joya used to make it...

No, at home, she would make a totally different kind of Imrig Helva, that had a farina (as in Cream of Wheat) base to it. It was a basic recipe that was one of the first Armenian dishes I learned to make - just farina, butter, sugar and water. Stir, spread on a plate and cool. Oh yes, there are other - more intricate - varieties and they are wonderful, too. But they are all pretty basic.

The lovely thing about Imrig Helva is that (for my own family) it has become the way they best like hot cereal on a cold, blistery morning. We're not big on oatmeal (have top be in the right mood) and I seem to be the only one who like the old "Hot" Grapenuts deal - where you just mix the hard, crunchy cereal with milk and pop it into the microwave for a minute or two. But they all love Cream of Wheat - prepared sort of like Helva. (I say "sort of", because, for breakfast, I do not use the amount of sugar or butter required for the actual dessert - and we serve it in bowls, steaming like cereal).

The method is simple, I just add a few good pats of butter and about a 1/8 cup of sugar to the sauce pan, when I cook the cereal. Sometimes, I add raisins or other chopped up dried fruit or nuts, as well.