Carrot Halwa - Gajar Halwa

Carrot halwa/ gajar halwa is a very easy sweet which can be prepared by beginners too. This is one of the classic Indian desserts which makes presence in most occasions. The only effort in preparing this dish is grating the carrots. Otherwise it is a breeze to make this sweet. It tastes great both hot and cold. There are many methods to prepare this sweet - using condensed milk, khoya etc. But the recipe I have shared here is a simple one by just using milk - similar to my beetroot halwa recipe

Carrot halwa Recipe

Serves : 3

Ingredients

• Grated carrot -  3 heaped cups( I used 4 big carrots)
• Sugar  -  1 cup
• Milk  - 3 cups( I used fresh milk)
• Ghee  -  3 tbsp
• Almonds - 15 ( you may use any nuts of your choice - cashew, almond, pista or even a mix of the three)
• Cardamom powder  -  a pinch

Method

1. Peel the skin of the carrot and wash thoroughly. I used big size hole in the grater to grate the carrots. I used 4 big sized carrots and when grated, it came to 3 heaped cups.
2. Boil little water in a vessel and once it starts to boil, add the almonds to that and switch off the stove. This is called blanching the almonds, which makes peeling the skin easier.
3. Peel the skin of the almonds and cut them into thin strips.
4. In a wide bottomed pan, take 1 tbsp of ghee and fry the almond strips and keep aside.
5. In the same pan add another 1 tbsp of ghee and fry the grated carrots till the raw smell slightly goes away. This might take about 5 minutes.
6. Now add the 3 cups of milk and mix well. Cook the carrots in the milk with constant stirring in between.
7. The milk has to evaporate, by when the carrots will also be cooked. Keep stirring in between.
8. After the milk has almost evaporated add the sugar and mix well. Once sugar is added, the mixture again becomes watery. Continue to cook till it solidifies.
9. Add the remaining 1 tbsp ghee and cardamom powder and mix well.
10. Add the fried almond strips and switch off the stove once it leaves the sides of the pan.
11. Serve hot or chilled. This stays good for 2 to 3 days if refrigerated.

Notes

• I have used almonds here. You can also use cashew nuts or pistachios in place of almonds. If using cashews or pistachios, directly fry them in ghee and add it at the end.
• I used low fat milk and didn't find any difference in the taste. You can use full cream milk if you wish. Also I did not boil the milk beforehand and just added them as is for cooking the carrots.