Related to the celebration of my 100th recipe post, I was thinking which recipe fits the occasion the most and decided to go for a cake, which I already made. Then my daughter suggested to add a sweet dish, as sweet dish will addd more sweetness to the situation, rt? Then I went for making this sweet dish, Gajar ka Halwa, which originated in Punjab..
I remember the day I first had this sweet dish. It was one of the Teacher’s Party Day that we celebrated in Career Campus, Sharjah. The rule of the party was not giving the menu to the catering section, but we the whole staff would make their own favourite items and bring to the campus.. Each and every person had to make one dish for the whole group for that day. Everybody started to discuss on what the dish they all are going to make for the occasion. We all discussed it during break time, over the phone..ooo lala, infact the whole week.. I could see some of the teachers discussing their repeated attempt failures, may be the first timers in the kitchen.. using the best opportunity to learn some new recipes from others to make.. After all these perplexed days and discussions, the day came and as agreed by everybody, the yummy and delicious dishes appeared on the party table.
Now of course, you must be thinking about the dish I made for the day. After days of thinking, eventually I decided to go for my favourite Caramel Custard. Got appreciation as well. The lunch menu had so many yummy dishes and so all of us were troubled to decide on which dishes to go for first. We all had the lunch happily since it was absolutely a heaven on our plates!. The table was full of both vegetarian and non vegetarian dishes, starters, drinks etc. and desserts afterwards.. All of us were not having any more rooms to test and taste all those dishes.
Lemme come to the point, One of our colleagues, I still remember a chemistry teacher, Sreelatha (I guess, (hey, it was almost 11 years back..) from Chennai made this Carrot Halwa and brought it for the day. Wow, the day I tasted this sweet dish for the first time. It was awesome. Since that day this dish was there in the bottom of my heart to try out one day.. At the same time, something that hauled me back was the tedious effort one has to put in to make this one. That’s what I heard.. Hey, someone scared me that day saying the continuous mixing part of the dish.. But I have realised that it was not a strenuous work as how my impression was, when I put it to the test. Thank God, it came out superb on my first attempt itself, with good texture. It was not mushy or crunchy..
So the rest of the story later.. Carrots are known to improve our vision power, it slows down aging, good for losing weight, and the carotene antioxidants in carrots reduce the risk of cancer.
Here, these are winter months. And so carrot is one of the vegetables fit in for the season. Since winters are the best time to have carrots.
Here comes the recipe of Gajar ka Halwa..
Servings – 4
Ingredients for making Gajar ka Halwa Recipe / Carrot Halwa Recipe:
500 grams Carrot (mine was 526 grams)
1 ½ cups Milk
2 tbsp. unsalted Cashew nuts
2 tbsp. Raisins (optional)
¾ cup Sugar
2 tbsp. unsalted Butter / ghee
Few Saffron strands
3 Cardamom pods
Few Almonds for garnishing.
How to Make Gajar ka Halwa / Carrot Halwa Recipe:
Rince, trim both ends of the carrots. Using a peeler lightly scrape the outer skin. grate carrots to thick strands by using a grater. Keep it aside.
Heat a thick bottom pan on medium heat. Add in butter. When the butter melts, add cashew nuts and fry until golden brown. Drain it from the pan and keep it aside. Add the grated carrots into the same pan and sauté for about 5 to 8 minutes till the raw smell vanishes.
Now add the milk to this and cook while stirring it often till the milk reduces to half the quantity. This may take about 15 minutes. Now add the Sugar and saffron strands. Once you add the sugar, the mixture will become liquefied. Cook until the mixture thickens. It will take near about 12 minutes.
Turn off the heat, sprinkle crushed cardamom pods, fried cashes and raisins. Mix well. Garnish with almond silvers or shredded almonds. Serve this Gajar ka Halwa / Carrot Halwa hot or warm.
My Recipe Notes on Gajar ka Halwa / Carrot Halwa Recipe:
1. You can use a food processor for grating carrots. After cutting both ends and peeling the carrots, if you microwave it for 1 minute, it would be easier to grate the carrots.
2. I have used Full Cream Milk.
3. The raw smell of the carrot should not be there at all.
4. Adjust the quantity of sugar as per your preference.
5. This can be stored in the refrigerator.
Happy Cooking.. Cheers.. Seena.
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ഗാജർ കാ ഹൽവ റെസിപ്പി / കാരറ്റ് ഹൽവ റെസിപ്പി.
Gajar ka Halwa / Carrot Halwa / My 100th Blog Post.
Description
Gajar ka Halwa or Carrot Halwa is an Indian Dessert or sweet. It is a healthy, simple and delicious Indian sweet dish.