Pumpkin cooked down with sugar, corn flour and butter into a set, spoonable sweet, dusted with sugar and nuts.
Qeb Heliwe (Pumpkin Halva)
Ingredients
Method
- Cook the pumpkin with a little water until very soft; mash smooth.
- Melt the butter in a heavy pan and stir in the corn flour until it smells toasty.
- Add the pumpkin purée and sugar; cook, stirring, until thick and pulling from the pan.
- Stir in the walnuts or raisins.
- Press into a dish about 3 cm thick and cool until set.
- Cut into squares and dust with powdered sugar.
Cook it down until a spoon leaves a clean trail: too wet and it won't set.
This is the recipe from the Recipes section of the Circassian app, where you can also scale it and save it to your favourites.
Kitchen words in Circassian
The words for what is in this dish, in Kabardian (East Circassian) and Adyghe (West Circassian), with audio from the Circassian app’s lessons and audio course.
| English | Kabardian | Adyghe |
|---|---|---|
| butter | тхъуцынэtkhwutsyne | тхъуtkhu |
| food | шхынshkhyn | шхыныshkhənə |
| delicious | IэфI'ef' | IэшIу'eshIu |
| This is delicious! | Мыр IэфIщ!Myr 'ef'shch! | Мыр IэшIу!Myr 'esh'u! |
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Qeb Heliwe: questions
How long does it take to make Qeb Heliwe?
About 40 minutes, according to the recipe in the Circassian app.
How many people does this Qeb Heliwe recipe serve?
It serves 8. The servings control above the ingredients recalculates every quantity for 1 to 40 people.
What is Qeb Heliwe made of?
The ingredients are: 1 kg pumpkin, grated or puréed; 1 cup sugar; 1/2 cup corn flour; 100 g butter; handful of walnuts or raisins; powdered sugar, to dust.
Is Qeb Heliwe an everyday or a festive dish?
The Circassian app files it as a festive dish (Sweets & Drinks).
Where does this Qeb Heliwe recipe come from?
From the Recipes section of the Circassian app. The app’s recipes draw on Amjad Jaimoukha’s book Circassian Cuisine and were cross-checked against Russian and Adyghe food sources.
Sources
- Circassian app, Recipes section, recipe “Qeb Heliwe (Pumpkin Halva)” (recipe data last changed July 2026). The app’s recipes draw on Amjad Jaimoukha’s book Circassian Cuisine and were cross-checked against Russian and Adyghe food sources.
- Circassian app: audio course, Kabardian and Adyghe (the kitchen words: cheese, meat, milk, bread, tea, water, food, delicious), and the lessons’ vocabulary (chicken, salt, butter, honey).
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Circassian chicken, Adyghe cheese, haliva and 50 more, in English, Russian and Turkish, with servings you can scale. Plus short lessons in Kabardian or Adyghe.
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