Gajar ka Halwa/ Carrot Pudding

A scrumptious heavy meal tends to be incomplete without a rich flavorful dessert. For a large number of guests, we all want to prepare a risk free dessert. A basic recipe of gajar ka halwa prepared in advance can’t possibly go wrong.

Carrot halwa can be prepared in many ways. The traditional recipe requires cooking the carrot in milk only. But for saving time, people have invented the quick method of adding khoya (Khoa) or condensed milk.

Today I’m going to share with you my recipe where I literally use everything. Milk, condensed milk and milk powder. People at my place need some fattening to do. J So if you’re not scared of calories try this high fat gajar halwa recipe.

If you don’t want to use either condensed milk or milk powder, skip both ingredients happily. You could just substitute more milk or skip it entirely.

And and and… IF you don’t want milk at all… Cook the carrots in ½ cup ghee, till it is completely cooked.

Add sugar and serve with almonds. Go on and try.

This recipe serves 15 people. One serving of this recipe provides approximately 268 Calories.

Here is what you’ll need:

1.5 kg carrot (10-15 large sized)

3 tbsp ghee

2 cardamoms (Elaichi)

6 tbsp milk powder

4 cups milk

150 gm condensed milk ( optional)

2 cups sugar

20 almonds sliced

Method:

1. Wash, clean and grate the carrots using hand grater or food processor.
2. Heat the ghee in a large bottom pan and fry the cardamom.
3. Add the grated carrot and roast it on a medium low flame till the carrot loses all its moisture and ghee starts separating from the sides. This will take around half an hour.
4. Once the carrot is completely cooked, add the milk  and cook till all the milk gets absorbed.
5. Take the milk powder in a bowl and add few tbsp of milk to it to form a lumpy khoya textured thick paste.
6. Add this paste to the carrots.
7. Keep stirring often. When the milk reduces and the carrot start sticking to the bottom add the sugar.
8. Cook till all the moisture from the sugar evaporates.
9. Adding the condensed milk is optional at this point.
10. Cook on medium heat stirring often till the halwa becomes soft and dry. It should stick together and come off as a ball. The halwa should not get very stiff but pliable.
11. Serve warm and garnish with roasted sliced almonds.

Recipe by Zohra Sada