Yay, this is the 100th post of Cooking with Thas, let me sweeten up this post with Carrot Halwa…
Among the root vegetables, I admire carrots the most. Probably, this is the only root vegetable I don’t have to always worry about cooking or baking to perfection. Just a well washed raw carrot packed with Vitamin A makes a good snack. I wasn’t aware until recently that there are different varieties of carrots, ranging from the common orange, red, yellow, purple, white and black carrots. Oh ya, even black carrots! Even though they belong to the same family, they were originated from different countries and each of them offers different health benefits.
When grocery shopping, first thing I always pick is a bag of regular carrots and a bag of baby carrots. I have never seen any one of the carrots going wasted from my kitchen. Baby carrots, a healthy snack to munch on whenever I get the sweet craving and the regular carrots which is thrown blindly into almost any cooking pot. They will be seen in Soups, Stews, Stir fry, Salads, Fried rice, Desserts, Cakes, Smoothies, Milkshakes etc basically carrots are all over…
Last weekend, I turned my carrots into a mouth watering halwa. Carrot halwa is the most famous dessert in North India. Making carrot halwa in your kitchen is very simple and when you make it you have the control over pouring of ghee. You can decide how sweet and how much ghee your carrot halwa should have.
Here is my version of Carrot halwa, I’ve tried to reduce the amount of ghee and condensed milk. There is absolutely no precise amount while adding these, you could pour according to your desire, of course keep tasting it.
Carrot Halwa
Ingredients:
- Carrot, grated- 2 cups
- Milk- 1 cup
- Sugar- 2 tbsp
- Condensed milk- 4 tbsp, or according to your needs
- Ghee- 4 tbsp, or according to your needs.
- Cardamom powder- 1/2 tsp
- Roasted chopped Almonds- 2 tbsp
- Roasted Pistachios- 1 tbsp
- Roasted Raisins- 1 tbsp
Instruction:
- Roast almonds, pistachios, raisins in 1 tbsp ghee and keep aside.
- In a wide non-stick pan, cook carrot along with milk and sugar over medium heat until the raw smell of carrot goes away and turns soft.
- When the carrot has cooked well, add the condensed milk and stir constantly.
- When the mixture starts to thicken, add ghee little by little and continue to stir to avoid sticking to the bottom.
- Add cardamom powder and combine with the carrots.
- When you have added all the ghee and when the carrots start to turn light golden brown, add the roasted almonds, pistachios and raisins.
- Combine everything well and transfer the halwa to a dessert bowl.
- Press the top layer of the halwa with the back of a spoon to make it even and let cool down for some time.
- When it has cooled down, run a sharp knife through the sides of the halwa to loosen up the sides, cover the bowl with a dessert plate and turn upside down, gently shake the bowl, set halwa would fall onto the plate.
- Serve warm or you could even chill it in the refrigerator which makes it even tastier.
Tips:
- Add condensed milk and ghee according to your needs.
- You could also add a pinch of saffron soaked in 1 tbsp of milk to the halwa for a nice aroma and color.
- You could even use baby carrots, if so you need to be careful while adding the condensed milk or sugar, as baby carrots are already sweet.
- Carrot, grated- 2 cups
- Milk- 1 cup
- Sugar- 2 tbsp
- Sweetened Condensed milk- 4 tbsp, or according to your needs
- Ghee- 4 tbsp, or according to your needs.
- Cardamom powder- ½ tsp
- Roasted chopped Almonds- 2 tbsp
- Roasted Pistachios- 1 tbsp
- Roasted Raisins- 1 tbsp
- Roast almonds, pistachios, raisins in 1 tbsp ghee and keep aside.
- In a wide non-stick pan, cook carrot along with milk and sugar over medium heat until the raw smell of carrot goes away and turns soft.
- When the carrot has cooked well, add the condensed milk and stir constantly.
- When the mixture starts to thicken, add ghee little by little and continue to stir to avoid sticking to the bottom.
- Add cardamom powder and combine with the carrots.
- When you have added all the ghee and when the carrots start to turn light golden brown, add the roasted almonds, pistachios and raisins.
- Combine everything well, transfer the halwa to a dessert bowl.
- Press the top layer of the halwa with the back of a spoon to make it even and let cool down for some time.
- When the halwa has cooled down, run a sharp knife through the sides of the halwa to loosen up the sides, cover the bowl with a dessert plate and turn upside down, gently shake the bowl, set halwa would fall onto the plate.
- Serve warm or you could even chill it in the refrigerator and enjoy.
You could also add a pinch of Saffron soaked in 1 tbsp of milk to the halwa for a nice aroma and color.
You could even use baby carrots, if so you need to be careful while adding the condensed milk or sugar, as baby carrots are already sweet.
