Sohan Halwa of Multan

Sohan halwa is a rich sweet made by working milk, flour, sugar, ghee, and other ingredients together over a long time. In Multan, a city in southern Punjab, Pakistan, the sweet is scattered with nuts and packed in tins, and it is also known as a gift that travelers take home to family and friends.

Working Three Kinds of Wheat

In the method used by Hafiz Sohan Halwa in Multan, three kinds of flour (sprouted wheat flour, refined wheat flour, and wheat flour) are combined with milk and stirred constantly with a bamboo paddle over the heat. According to reporting, the mixture is worked for 7 to 8 hours until it thickens; sugar is then added and the moisture cooked off, and the mixture is taken off the heat and ghee is mixed in. It is spread on metal trays, topped with nuts and other ingredients, and left for 3 to 4 hours to set, becoming a sweet that can be cut into pieces and carried. The flour proportions and times are this shop’s method, not a rule for all sohan halwa.

Without stopping the stirring, the mixture is turned over from the bottom of the pot, and the finished halwa is transferred to flat metal trays. With one bite, the rich aroma of ghee and a deep sweetness spread, and the scattered nuts add crunch.

The name halwa is used for a wide variety of sweets across a broad region. Compared with tahini halva, which is based on sesame paste, this Multan shop’s product is distinguished by working milk and wheat together. Both belong to the same family of names, but they do not share a single set of ingredients or a single texture.

The Town’s Shops and Legends

There are several stories about how this sweet began. In one, a confectioner named Sohan boiled milk that had gone stale and added wheat flour and sugar; the sweet became popular and reached the court of Sawan Mal, the ruler of Multan. In another, Sawan Mal himself is said to have devised it. Both are stories handed down as the origin of the sweet.

As for the Hafiz shop, it is said that in 1963 Habib-ur-Rahman, the son-in-law of Ahmad Din, began selling at Hussain Agahi Bazaar in Multan the sweet that Ahmad Din had made for his students and family. This is the history of that shop, not the origin of the sweet as a whole.

A Taste Carried to Distant Places

After the Partition of India, sohan halwa was also passed down as a taste of home among people who moved away from the Multan region. The researcher Ritu Bhagat recalls the halwa her family had the confectioner Dhannu make for them in Sonipat, India. That sweet used walnuts and was also sent to relatives living far away. Like the tins carried home from the shops of Multan, memories of the sweet have also crossed lands along with people.

Glossary