Carrot Halwa | Gajjar ka Halwa | Carrot Halwa with Khoya to celebrate a 1000 fans!!!

Carrot Halwa is my most favorite dessert, I love to have it warm along with a scoop of Vanilla Ice cream that's my kind of dessert ;-) have you tried this combination? In most South Indian weddings this combination is served as a dessert during the wedding feast. The orange color and the topping of fried nuts and raisins does give a magical color to this yumilicious dessert. Although we call it carrot 'Halwa' the texture is soft and does not hold a shape like most Indian halwas, the soft juicy taste of carrots and melt in mouth taste of khoya makes this a dessert to die for, Oh not literally :P. Ok ask me why such a special dessert out of the blue? well if you are someone who follows me in facebook you would have known that my little FB page crossed 1000 likes and I felt it was time for a little celebration and hence posting this delicious and most loved dessert here. 

Thanks to all my facebook fans - you all inspire me to cook a lot :-)

My version of this dessert is to top with khoya although if you are someone who does not like Khoya in Carrot halwa you can skip it. Cooking the shredded carrots in milk until well cooked does do magic to this dessert so do not do it when you are in a hurry. Make sure you also do a big batch since its sure to get over fast ;-). Now lets move on to the recipe

CARROT HALWA RECIPE

Prep time ~ 20 mins

Cook time ~ around an hour

Serves ~ 4 generously

Serving suggestion ~ warm along with vanilla ice cream

Ingredients

Carrots - 20 nos / around 2 kg - 4 cups of grated carrot

Boiled milk - 2 cups

Sugar - 1/4 cup or more

Khoya - 1/2 cup

Ghee - 2-3 tsp

Nuts & raisins - 3-4 tbsp, chop the nuts

Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp (optional, I have not used it)

Method

• Add ghee to a heavy bottom wide non-stick pan, once it melts add the nuts and raisins fry them until golden. Using a slotted spoon remove them from the pan and set aside
• In the same pan add the grated carrots and saute until the ghee is well coated on the carrots
• Now add the boiled milk to the grated carrots. Bring it to a boil and then simmer to medium-low flame and let it cook until all the milk evaporates.
• Once all the milk evaporates fully and the carrots are cooked completely add sugar and mix well. Within 2-3 minutes the sugar melts and combines well.
• Now add shredded khoya to this mixture and give it a good mix.

Serve warm along with cold vanilla ice cream ;-)

Cooks Wisdom 

- I shredded the carrots to medium size, this helps it to remain the shape once cooked. If its too fine then it will get mashed 

- I used store bought khoya, you can make your homemade version 

- Adding cardamom powder is totally optional, personally i do not add cardamom powder but you can add if you want it

- Alternately you can also add saffron strands, I have not added it for this recipe

- Always add sugar only after the carrots are fully cooked

- Carrots in general are sweet so adjust the sweetness accordingly

- During the cooking process of carrots make sure the flame is medium-low so that you don't burn them