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  • 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.

Narrator: Every day, a team of chefs

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