CARROT HALWA / GAJAR KA HALWA

“Carrot Halwa / Gajar Ka Halwa ” – that’s what today’s post is about . Drooling ?? I know you don’t need any intro for it… right ?Its probably one of the most popular desserts of our country . And the word gajar ka halwa is a fav be it in Indian movies or  festivals or Indian buffets or Indian wedding or any occasion that calls for celebration with sweets .Its a classic simple dessert with no complex ingredients .Its hard to mess them.

In India, Halwas are prepared in various types and im not a huge fan of most of them except a few and carrot halwa being one of them. Come winter and i never miss making these halwas as you find freshest of carrots in this season.Yes winter is the season when in Bangalore market is flooded with all juicy red Delhi carrots. Though taste wise carrot halwa made from red / orange carrot doesn’t make much difference, but the ones made from red are more appealing to the eyes :).

A good thing about this dessert is that you can indulge them without feeling much guilty as amount of ghee and sugar used is less in comparison to other desserts. The only tedious n boring job in making carrot halwa is grating carrot.But thank God !! Now we have food processor to our rescue which makes the job so easy peesy. There are many variation of making this simple dessert. Below is my version of making them ..I don’t add any khova or condensed milk. Just like to keep it simple.

you may also check other halwa recipes like papaya halwa, carrot halwa,  bottle gourd halwa etc

CARROT HALWA

Smitha Kalluraya

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Course Dessert

Cuisine Indian

Servings 4 serving

Ingredients

 

• 1 kg Fresh Carrot
• 1 litre approx Milk, ( you can use full fat milk for richness )
• 1 - 1 1/2 cups Sugar
• 3 - 4 tbsps Ghee, ( can add or reduce this quantity)
• 5 - 6 cardamom elaichi
• a pinch Citric acid / Nimbu ka phool, (optional )
• Cashew nuts almonds and raisins, as much as you like

Instructions

 

• Wash,peel the skin and grate carrot using food processor or by hand grater.
  
• Add about 1 tbsp of ghee in a wide thick pan or kadai. Roast nuts.When they are golden brown in color,remove and keep aside.
  
• To the same pan add grated carrot and saute for abt 5 mins.Carrot will turn slightly pale in color..
• Now add milk and cook uncovered on medium flame.Let the carrot cook in milk .Stir once in a while.Continue the process till the carrot drinks almost all milk. This will take almost 30-40 mins.
  
• When the mixture is almost dry ,add sugar and mix well. You can observe that carrot mixture again liquefies and changes in color.
  
• 
• Stir at regular intervals and cook till sugar dries up and mixture turns thick .This may take about 10 mins.If you are adding khoya / khova ,add at this stage .
• Now add remaining ghee .You will observe that the halwa will get a nice glaze after the addition of ghee.
• Add cardamom powder, roasted dry fruits and mix well.Continue to cook till the carrot halwa acquires desired consistency ie the halwa when turned forms a single mass .
• Switch off the flame and serve hot /at room temp or chilled .Remains fresh for abt a week if refrigerated in a container.
  

Notes

NOTE:

1. Milkmaid / condensed milk can also be used .If using that, then reduce the quantity of sugar .
2. You can also add khova / khoya to make it more rich.
3. To quicken up the process,you can pressure cook carrots with milk. Later the procedure is same.
4. You can serve warm carrot halwa with vanilla ice cream too. I personally dont like it but every 1 else does.Its like hot combo.
5. I like to add a pinch of citric acid to my carrot halwa . It gives a nice tangy taste to the bland carrot.You can omit it.

Thanks for reading the post....plz drop your valuable comments.. it really motivates me...Also If you liked this post, I would really love it if you could share it ...Thank you !!

Love ~Smitha