Wash throughly and soak the yellow moong in ample amount of water for 6 hours or overnight. After the soaking time has passed, drain the water completely and grind to a coarse paste. The consistency of this is important here. We do not want it to be too grainy and at the same time it should not be very pasty and fine. Keep aside the ground batter.

In a heavy bottom pan, heat the ghee till medium hot. To this add the ground moong dal and stir continously. This is probably the most important step in the making of the moong dal halwa, so do not get discouraged by the stirring involved. It will pay off in the end. While stirring the first milestone is one the ghee starts floating above the moong dal and technically one could stop at this point but I like my moong dal well roasted and browned both for the color and for the nutty taste. So continue stirring till the moong dal is browned.

While the moong dal is roasting, boil water and sugar together to make a one string syrup. Syrup cooking is often used during candy making and while the west uses the candy theremometer to determine when to stop, in India we use the number of strings. To test how many strings the syrup is, boil together sugar & water and dip a wooden spatula in it. Bring it out and let it cool for 5 secs and then take a little of sryup between your fingers. Stretch your thumb and finger apart and the number of strings that the solution forms is the string consistency of the syrup.

Soak saffron strands (kesar) in warm milk and keep aside.

Once the moong dal is roasted, add the sugar syrup and the milk kesar mixture to it and cook till it is dropping consistency.

Add the khoya to the above and stir well, cook it it is almost melted. Now add all the nuts and raisins to the moong dal halwa. Mix and serve warm.