This famous Indian dessert is made by cooking grated carrots in milk and reducing that mixture down till all that's left is the grated carrots. This is not one for those who are calorie counting, as it's cooked with ghee and sugar too.
You can also do a cheat's version of this dessert, by using condensed milk to shorten the cooking time. In this case, I would suggest you use just a little milk, say half a cup or about to cook the carrots before adding the condensed milk.
I have tried to make a slightlier healthy version of this dish (if that's even possible with carrot halwa!), by using lesser sugar and a lot less ghee. Makes me feel a little less guilty later on!
A note to keep in mind is to make sure the carrots are cooked properly. You do not want that raw taste of the carrots coming through. Cook it the first time with the milk and the slow frying at the end should finish it off nicely.
Ingredients:
9 medium sized carrots
5 tsps of ghee (good quality cow's ghee for the best flavour)
2 cups of full cream milk
10 cardamom pods (remove the inside black seeds and crush them to a powder in a pestle and mortar) or alternatively use a pinch of cardamom powder
1/3 cup each of raisins and cashews
1 cup of sugar
Method:
First grate the carrots after peeling off the skin. Put a big non stick pan on the heat. Put 5 tsps of ghee in the pan. Fry the grated carrots till softened. Then add in the milk, sugar and the cardamom powder. Keep the heat on a medium, making sure you are constantly stirring the mixture so that it doesn't burn.
Keep stirring till the milk is almost evaporated. For a richer flavour, fry the cashews and raisins separately in a tsp of ghee before hand and then add that to the carrot halwa.
Once you've added the raisins and cashews, fry the mixture slowly on a low heat, taste for sugar (I have used a little less in this recipe) and once the oil starts releasing from the carrots you know that the carrot halwa is ready.
It tastes best served warm with cold ice cream.
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