Carrots are very good source of vitamin K and vitamin B6. They are very nutritious and have no doubt why they are bugs bunny’s favourite. In the chilling winters having a hot gajar halwa is a treat to have…
Carrot Halwa (Gajar halwa):
Ingredients for gajar halwa :
Fresh Carrots – shredded – 4 cups
Milk – 3 cups (whole milk gives richness, but you can use reduced fat too)
Sugar – 1 cup
Ghee (clarified butter) – 8 tbsp. (approximately 1/2 cup)
Cashew nuts – 10
Cardamom pods (elaichi) – 1 (or 1/8 tsp. cardamom powder)
Method:
- Wash, peel and grate the carrots.
- Place a wide-mouthed, heavy-bottomed vessel in Medium-HighAdd 4 tbsp. ghee.
- Add the shredded carrots into the ghee and mix well.
- Fry until the carrots turn pale. Carrots should turn pale which means they gajar halwa won’t have raw smell. You’ll now feel a kind of sweet smell from the carrots. This process takes around 10 minutes. Add the milk.
- Use 3 cups of milk. i.e. enough milk to submerge the carrots so that they get cooked well in the milk. Allow the milk to boil. Cook for 5 minutes.
- Let the carrots get cooked well in the milk. The carrots should drink in all the milk. This will take 20-30 minutes. Stir the content from time to time to prevent scorching.
- Once the milk is completely absorbed add in the sugar. Mix well. Reduce flame to medium. Once sugar is added, the content tends to liquefy. Stir at regular intervals. We need to wait until the mixture turns thick. This will take around 10-15 minutes.
- Add a tsp of ghee more to avoid getting it stick to the pan.
- Add roasted crushed cashews and cardamom powder. Cook for another 2-3 min and halwa is ready to be served.
- Garnish with cashews and serve hot gajar halwa.
