Carrot Halwa (Gaajar Ka Halwa)

Of late I have been stocking up lot of vegetables and we have been eating out quite a bit. I opened the fridge today and stuck my head widely in to figure out which ones I need to wipe out from my fridge. I saw these yummie crunchy packet of Carrots. Just remembered that I also happened to buy some Almonds, Raisins and Cashewnuts over the weekend. Plus I had surplus butter to finish. Thought of making a quick Gaajar Ka Halwa to aptly use the surplus Carrot sticks.

I did a quick research on the net and found one amazing description on Youtube-Manjulas Kitchen for this recipe. Thanks Manjula! I really liked your approach to this dessert. I have done some changes to the recipe and found the end result simply DECADENT!!

Recipe Source: Manjulas Kitchen

Yield: 6 servings of Halwa

Ingredients:

Carrot (shredded) - 6 cups

Butter (unsalted) or Ghee - 2 tablespoon

Milk - 2 cups

Sugar - 1 cup or 1 and 1/2 cup if more sweetness is preferred

Raisins (optional) - 5-8

Almonds (chopped) - 6-10

Cashewnut (chopped) - 6-10

Method:

Heat butter/ghee in a saucepan. Add shredded carrots and saute well till it turns soft and is well cooked. Once cooked, add milk and turn the stove to a low flame and allow to cook. This will take around 1/2 hour easily. You will notice that the milk evaporates and turns into solids. Keep a watchful eye to give a stir once in a while.

Open the saucepan lid once milk gets evaporated, add sugar and stir well till it gets caramelized. Add the dry fruits and stir well and cook till the dessert becomes a dry mass and smells of heavenly goodness. Serve hot, warm or chilled.

TIP: I have used less sugar, one can use more if desired. Some also dry roast dry fruits in ghee before mixing with the cooked carrot; I simply avoided to reduce the calorific value.