MangalaMeenakshi, Madurai
go.jingalala@gmail.com
- PREP TIME:15 min
- COOK TIME:45 min
- TOTAL TIME:1 h
- YIELD:2 cups
- DIFFICULTY:easy
- RECIPE TYPE:Dessert
Ingredients:
- Fresh Carrots – shredded – 4 cups
- Milk – 3 cups (whole milk gives richness, but you can use reduced fat too)
- Sugar – 1 cup
- Ghee (clarified butter) – 8 tbsp. (approximately 1/2 cup)
- Cashew nuts – 10
- Cardamom pods (elachi / elakkai) – 1 (or 1/8 tsp. cardamom powder)
Steps to make Carrot Halwa
- Wash, peel and grate the carrots. Use the medium blade in the mandoline to grate. Measure the carrots loosely but heaped.
- Place a wide-mouthed, heavy-bottomed vessel in Medium-HighYou may use your pressure cooker. Add 4 tbsp. ghee.
- Add the shredded carrots into the ghee and mix well.
- Fry until the carrots turn pale and the raw smell of carrots is gone. Once you sense the sweet smell of the carrots, add milk. Add enough milk to submerge the carrots so that they get cooked well in the milk. Allow the milk to boil.
- Let the carrots cook well in the milk. The carrots should drink in the milk. This will take 20-30 minutes. Stir the content from time to time to prevent it from scorching.
- Once the milk is completely absorbed, add in sugar. Mix well. Reduce flame to Medium. Once sugar is added, the content tends to liquefy.Do not be alarmed. Stir at regular intervals. We need to wait until the mixture turns thick. This will take around 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile, work on the next step.
- Place a small wok in medium flame. Roast the cashews with 1 tsp. ghee. When the cashews turn golden, turn off the stove and remove the cashews from the wok.
- Remove seeds from one cardamom pod and powder it. If you have ready-made cardamom powder use 1/4 tsp.
- Once the carrot mixture becomes thick, add the remaining ghee/clarified butter (4 tbsp.)
- Add the roasted cashews and powdered cardamom. Mix them well. Cook the Halwa stirring occasionally until the added ghee separates out. This takes 10 more minutes. [Do not wait for the Halwa to become thick. 10 minutes after adding ghee should be enough. The right consistency is when you mix the mixture, it should stir together forming a mass.]
- Serve the Carrot Halwa hot, preferably warm. [Once the Halwa reaches room temperature pack them in a container and you can refrigerate.]
