Carrot Halwa
Gajar ka halwa or Carrot halwa is a delectable Indian sweet made using red carrots, milk and ghee as main ingredients
Ingredients
- 750 grams Red Carrots
- 500 ml Full Cream Milk
- 5 tbsp Ghee
- 0.75 cup Sugar
- 0.5 tsp Cardamom Powder
- 6 nos Cashewnut
- 6 nos Almond
- 6 nos Pistachio
Instructions
- Wash, peel and grate the carrots in the largest setting of the grater
- Chop the almonds lengthwise and break the cashewnuts into two. In a heavy bottom kadai or pan, add 3 tablespoons ghee and fry the almonds and cashwenuts on a low flame till they turn slightly pink. Remove the nuts from the kadai
- To the leftover ghee in the kadai, add the grated carrots. Mix them occasionally and let it cook for 5 minutes. This will remove the raw flavour of the carrots and enhance the colour and flavour
- Next, add the milk to the kadai. The carrots must just get submerged in milk. Cook on medium to high flame till the milk comes to boil.
- Continue cooking on medium to high flame while stirring and scraping the milk solids in between till the milk is almost fully evaporated. This step should take around 25 to 30 minutes
- Now add the sugar and 2 tablespoons ghee and mix well. The halwa will liquify and the colour will be enhanced too. Continue cooking on medium flame while stirring in between, till the moisture is fully absorbed
- Finally add cardamom powder and the dry fruits (fried cashewnuts and almonds and chopped roasted pistachio nuts) and mix well. Serve hot or cold
Notes
- Use the red carrots for the best results, which are generally available during winters. However if you cannot find them, you could also use the other varieties of carrot. You might have to slightly increase the proportion of sugar, if the carrots are not that sweet.
- Use a heavy bottom pan or kadai, as it would avoid the milk getting burnt when i sticks to the edges of the pan. It would also help in retaining uniform heat for cooking.
- Don't grate the carrots too fine, as this would yield a mushy halwa which would lack texture.
- It is important to cook the carrots in ghee before adding the milk, as it enhances the flavour of carrot and removes the raw smell.