Gaajar ka Halwa

 Recipe contributed by: Dhara Balwa

 

Starting the cooking blog with last course first! Yup, that is us. After all, in India, when you are doing anything new and you want to start on right foot, you make something sweet. Hence, the Halwa. Carrot Halwa is one of the easiest and simplest Indian desserts you can make. The added bonus is the goodness of vegetable. The only thing you need to make the halwa the traditional way is TIME and a strong hand. There are various other quick recipes to make the halwa but nothing to me tastes as good as cooking it the old way-Adding milk and heating and stirring it for a long time.  

Serves heartily: 4
Time: Prep time: 20 min. Cooking time: 90 min
Difficulty Level: Easy



Ingredients:

2 lb (approx.1 kg) shredded carrots
1.2 liter milk or 2 cans of evaporated milk
4 Tbsp. pure Ghee (clarified butter)
1 1/2 cups sugar
Few pinches cardamom powder
1/4 cup heavy cream (optional)
Few roasted cashews (optional)

Instructions:

1) Heat up 2 Tbsp. of ghee slightly and add the shredded carrots in it. Saute them on medium-low heat for a while and cover the mixture. Let the carrots be tender. 
2) Add the milk and let the water from the milk burn. At this point you can add the optional heavy cream. Stir in-between.

3) When most of the water is evaporated, add sugar.

4) Stir frequently (more so) until the mixture starts leaving the sides of the cooking container. Please be careful not to let the mixture burn on the bottom.

5) At the end, add cardamom powder, 2 Tbsp. ghee and cashews.

Enjoy it warm, cold or with my favorite combination of warm halwa on the bed of vanilla ice cream.

Tip: Refrigerate the halwa for up to 3 days. I am not sure about how long you can freeze but I had frozen it once for at least a month and it was just fine.