
Carrot halwa/Gajar ka halwa is a very popular sweet delicacy made throughout India during festivals. In Punjab, it is considered a winter speciality and goes by the name gajrela.
Carrot halwa was never on my bucket list. Mom never made this, as for us halwa was the one which grandma used to get for us in blocks from Kerala 😀 .
The first time I had this was when I lived in Odisha, where a friend had shared her Gajar ka halwa during Diwali. She had made it with condensed milk and khoya and though it was rich and tasted really good, somehow it didn’t strike a chord with me.
Years after that though I kept seeing people posting pictures of Carrot halwa in several social groups and drooling over it, I was never drawn.
Red carrots or Delhi carrots as they call them are preferred for making carrot halwa. It comes up for sales only during winters. Here in Qatar, when it is rarely seen in shops, people will start enthusiastically discussing and buying.
One fine day, at a shopping mall I saw them and couldn’t move away. It was as if the carrots were beckoning to me.
So I bought just 2 to try out the most popular gajar ka halwa, for site’s sake. I mean to post on my website. Then I completely forgot about it.
By the time I remembered 1 carrot was spoilt. But I did not want to call it quits, so I made the carrot halwa with 1 red and 1 orange carrot 😀 .
I stuck to the traditional simple (but a bit time-consuming) way of boiling the carrots in milk. Rather than adding condensed milk. And boy, it was so delicious that I finished most of it.
A good quality non-stick pan does help. The recipe takes some time as the milk has to completely reduce. But definitely worth the effort and time.
If you do not have patience, you can make it with condensed milk and khoya too, though my vote will always be for the traditional one.
Give it a try with a small quantity and you will never go back 🙂 . Over to the recipe…
Carrot halwa/Gajar ka halwa
Ingredients
- 1 cup finely grated carrot (200 g) (2 carrots)
- 1½ cups raw milk (342 ml)
- ¼ cup sugar + 1tbsp
- 1 tbsp ghee
- 2 big pinches cardamom powder
- 1 pinch turmeric powder
For tempering
- 1 tbsp ghee
- few chopped cashew nuts and almond
Instructions
- Wash, peel the carrots, and grate them finely with a fine grater.
- In a wide-mouthed pan (preferably nonstick), heat up a tbsp of ghee. Add the grated carrots, the cardamom, and turmeric powders and saute in medium flame for 5-7 minutes.
- Once it dries out, add the milk and bring to a boil. Once it boils, simmer and cook till all the liquid evaporates.
- Next, add the sugar and saute till it gathers together in 1 mass.
- Turn off the stove and temper with the ingredients given under to temper. Pour this over the halwa and serve warm or cold.
Hema’s P.S
- The volume of milk given in the recipe is exactly the quantity used. It may or may not be the same for you. Add milk as needed to immerse the carrots completely.
- First, add ¼cup of sugar and then add more as per need. I needed 1tbsp more.
- The addition of ghee is also up to personal preference.
- If you like khoya, you can add crumbled khoya a few minutes before turning off the stove.
- Any nut can be added to the tempering.
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