Narrator: Every day, a team of chefs
spend nearly 12 hours stirring milk and sugar
to make over 700 kilograms of halwa
for the famous sweet shop Chain Ji Halwa Wala.
The sweet and soft milk-based dessert
may be time-consuming to make,
but people travel from all over to get it
from Ji Halwa Wala.
Narrator: While you can find countless types of halwa
all across India and throughout the world,
this shop has continuously been praised
for its dedication to the craft and quality of ingredients.
We visited the shop to see why it is so famous
and how it prepares gulab halwa in such big batches.
Chain Ji Halwa prepares three batches of halwa every day
at its production workshop in Pali, Rajasthan, India.
This process begins at 5 a.m. by fueling the furnace
with the coal that piles high up on the walls.
Narrator: The coal comes from mines in Jharkhand.
And Chainsingh Rajpurohit, owner of Chain Ji Wala,
believes it gives the dish a distinctive flavor.
Narrator: Workers use mallets to break each brick of coal
into smaller pieces.
Narrator: The dominant ingredient in halwa is milk,
which the shop sources from nearby villages.
To get the creamy taste and texture,
only full-fat milk is used.
The milk is then strained into kadais,
which are deep pots similar to woks, but with steeper sides.
Narrator: The whole cooking process
takes about four hours and a full staff.
Four workers are dedicated solely to the coals,
while 10 to 12 chefs work on the furnaces.
They use ladles to continuously stir the milk
for two to three hours until it becomes thick and creamy.
While the stirring movement may seem simple enough,
it actually takes a seasoned chef to get it right.
Narrator: Once the milk reaches the right consistency,
sugar is added.
Narrator: And the stirring doesn't stop there.
The chefs will continue to stir the milk-and-sugar mixture
for another one to two hours.
Narrator: Eventually, the contents of 10 kadais
are combined into four to continue cooking slowly.
Narrator: When the thickened milk turns red and grainy
and clarified butter starts to appear on the surface,
the halwa is finished cooking.
Narrator: Workers scoop 8 kilograms of halwa
into these individual round serving plates
and pick out any burned bits with tongs.
Narrator: As the final touch,
each dish of halwa is carefully decorated with vark.
Narrator: When Chainsingh started the shop in 2007,
he sold about 20 to 30 kilograms of halwa a day. But now ...
Narrator: The shop, which is very well known
for its small, old table set up out front,
sees about 500 to 600 customers every day.
Narrator: Once they're at the table,
customers can choose how much they want to purchase.
Narrator: Halwa is believed to have originated
in Arabia around the 13th century,
but has since become an ubiquitous dessert throughout India.
The recipe varies from region to region,
but some of the common alternative ingredients
include semolina, carrots, almonds, and dates.
But it seems like Chainsingh's version of the dessert
has won the hearts of all sweet lovers.