Carrot/Gajar Halwa

I badly miss Mumbai during winters. Way back in Mumbai, as soon as it’s November-December, the vegetable markets would be flooded with winter vegetables like red carrots, green peas, sparkling white cauliflowers and so on. Being in Chennai, I really miss that. It’s a bit difficult for me to get these red carrots or the Delhi carrots as it’s called here. However, we get orange carrots throughout the year. But I cannot bring myself to make halwa

using the orange carrots. My mom used to make this halwa quite often during winters. I try to make it atleast once in a year, more because this is one dessert that hubby and Neha both enjoy. So, I make a big batch of around 2-3 kilograms and store it in the refrigerator.

The other day, I was telling my friend that I have not got red carrots this year and she immediately volunteered to get it for me. She usually buys vegetables from a main vegetable market. But as she went late to the market, she could get only half a kilogram. However, I was happy to get atleast something. Now, many people follow different methods to make this. I follow what my mom used to do. Many add condensed milk and khoya/mawa too to make it more richer. You can add fresh cream or full cream milk too. However, I have used normal 3% fat milk. It’s a simple process and gets ready in less than half an hour. I have used a 240 ml cup. If you do not like the halwa very sweet, you can reduce the sugar by 1-2 tablespoon. I found mine to be quite sweet.

Ingredients:

• Red carrots 1/2 kg
• Sugar 100 gm (1/2 cup)
• Milk 480 ml (2 cups)
• Ghee 2-3 tbsp
• Almonds 2 tbsp
• Cashew 8-10
• Kismis a handful
• Almond slivers 2 tbsp
• Cardamom powder a pinch

Method:

• Peel the skin and wash the carrots. Grate it using a grater.

• Heat a tablespoon of ghee in a heavy bottom pan or kadhai and fry the dry fruits. Strain and keep aside.

• Add a spoon more of ghee and saute the grated carrots till all the moisture is absorbed and the carrots become dry.

• Now add around half a litre of milk and cover the pan. Cook till the carrots are tender.

• Add the sugar and cook for 7-10 minutes till the sugar is fully cooked.

• Add almond slivers and cardamom powder.

• Garnish with the fried nuts and serve it warm with vanilla ice cream or serve it chilled.

Notes:

• Yesterday I made a big batch of halwa with khoya. Add around 1.5 kilogram of grated coconut to 2 tablespoons of ghee. Saute till it’s soft. Add around 400 grams of khoya and mix well. Add required amount of sugar and cook for 10-15 minutes. Garnish with finely chopped pistachios or almonds. Serve it hot or cold. Yummy creamy carrot halwa is ready.