Full fat milk - 1 litre

Sugar - 200 gms

Ghee - 50 ml (1/4 cup)

Citric acid - ¼ tsp dissolved in 1 tbsp hot water

Cardamom powder - 1 tsp

Cucumber seeds - 4 tsp (vellari vidhai)

In a heavy pan, boil milk.

After it boils, add first 1 tsp of citric acid solutiuon.

If the milk breaks, then stop or add a little more till the milk just breaks.

Boil, stirring till the milk reduces in volume.

When it becomes fairly thick, add sugar & stir on a high flame.

Go on adding ghee little by little.

The halwa will absorb the ghee.

As it becomes thicker, lower the flame.

When it no more sticks to the vessel, stop adding ghee.

It will foam up very well & start rising.

Remove from flame & add cardamom powder & seeds.

Empty on a greased plate.

P S:
When I learnt it from a chef in Madurai years back, he insisted that milk halwa should look white like milk & care has to be taken to adjust the flame carefully so that the colour is retained. But now, the halwa, I see in madurai looks "light brown" !