Carrot halwa | Gajar-ka-halwa : using pressure cooker, hob or microwave oven | Kukskitchen

'Maa ke haath ka bana Gajar ka halwa'  features a lot in hindi movies of yester-years. As a child I always drooled on hearing this dialogue. It was only when I grew up that I started making carrot halwa and after marriage, esp after moving to UK, because of the ease of getting ingredients for this sweet in this 'foreign' land :-), carrot halwa featured a lot in my kitchen.

The pictures were taken a while ago, before I started blogging. Apologies for the solo picture.  

I post this recipe here today on request by my friend C. Here's to u C and my dear dear friend N who also shares my passion to food and cooking. Cheers!

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Carrot Halwa

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Ingredients:

Carrot -  1 kg, peeled and grated
Milk -1 litre, preferably full fat
Sugar - 5 Tbsp
Ghee - 2 Tbsp
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp
Condensed milk - 3/4 cup
Almonds to garnish

Method:

- Pressure cook grated carrots with about a cup of milk till one whistle. 

- After one whistle let the pressure cooker cool and pressure is released than remove its lid and put it again on the stove.  

- After 30-40 minutes, when all the milk is evaporated, add condensed milk to the dry mixture and tip in the sugar as well. Check the amount of sugar , you may require very less sugar as condensed milk very sweet in itself. 

- Let it simmer till condensed milk also is absorbed and mixture thick.

- Add cardamom powder and mix well. 

- The next step is optional. In an another deep pan heat ghee,  transfer cooked halwa to it and cook for another  minute making sure you stir it with out fail all the way through.

To serve:

- Chop raw almonds, vertically if u can as it looks better that way, and layer them at the bottom of your presenting dish. Layer your halwa on top. This makes the almonds soak in the lovely juices from ur halwa and combines the mixture. This is a tip I learned from my dear friend A. Thanks dear. :-). Feel free to sprinkle a few chopped almonds on top of ur halwa too. 

- While serving scoop out large portions of ur halwa on to ur serving dish and serve it hot along with a scoop of yummy vanilla ice cream. Heaven!!! 

Tips:

- If you are not using a pressure cooker ,take a thick bottomed pan and pour milk in it, add carrots and let it cook. Once the milk starts boiling reduce the heat and let the mixture simmer.

- For an easy microwave method, heat ghee in a MWO safe bowl for 1 minute and add grated carrot. Cook for 2 minutes. Add milk and cook till milk evapourates, stirring occasionally. When the mixture thickens, add condensed milk and sugar. Again cook for another few minutes till mixture turns thick once again. Remove from MWO, add cardamom powder, garnish with almonds and serve.

- You can use cashew nuts instead of almonds, in which case fry them in ghee first. 

- Raisins go well with carrot halwa too. 

- A variation to the recipe is adding khoa or grated paneer. I personally do not prefer this as the end result is ever so slightly too sour to my palate.

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Cheers

Sherin