Carrot Halwa-How to make Gajar Halwa

Carrot Halwa or Gajar Ka Halwa is a dessert recipe, and dear readers I dare say this, that is Jewel of Crown of all the Halwa recipes in Indian Cuisine. It’s a north Indian delight that finds its place in almost every Indian buffet. Carrot is the winter crop; however, they are available throughout the year with different storing techniques. Come winter, and these red beauties overwhelms the market with their presence. Winter Carrots are juicy and sweet in nature and ideal for making Halwa.

This Halwa recipe is very easy and while it cooks in milk on slow flame you can wind up all your work and just finish this dessert with its final steps like roasting in ghee and adding khoa.  The only labor intensive and time consuming part of the recipe is of grating carrots manually, but if you have a food processor in your kitchen, you can grate almost a kg of carrots in couple of mins.

Here are the step by step easy instructions with pictures to detail out the recipe for your easy understanding:

Choose red, firm and fresh carrots. Wash them thoroughly under running water to remove dirt or any soil particles. Chop off the head and tail. Cut each carrot into 2 to 3 pieces so that hand holding while peeling becomes easier. Peel them cleanly without scraping out the insides.

Grate them with grater or in a food processor. I preferably use medium size holes for grating.

Put the grated carrots in a big kadai or vessel. Pour milk over it.

Add sugar. Turn on the flame and mix them up on medium flame.

Reduce the flame to slow after mixing and cover the vessel. Cook till carrots gets tender and absorbs almost all the moisture from milk. This would take 1.5 hours when on slow flame and 45 min to 1 hour when cooked on medium flame. However, make sure to stir in between frequently when cooking on medium flame as carrots may stick to the bottom of kadhai and would get burnt.  Carrots tastes better when they get cooked in their own juices and milk.

Meanwhile, dry roast the khoa on slow flame till it achieves light brown color but to ensure not turning dry and grainy. Keep stirring during this process (2-3 minutes). Keep aside.

Once the carrots get cooked and absorbs all the moisture, remove them in plate. You may cook it uncovered to reduce excess moisture.

In a pan, add ghee.

Fry the dry nuts & raisins slightly till raisins get puffed up and nuts get lightly browned. Remove and keep aside.

Add cooked carrots. Fry in ghee till 1 or 2 minutes.

Add khoa and mix completely.

Add nuts and raisins. Add cardamom powder and mix.

Optionally you can add 2-3 drops of rose essence to the Halwa, mix and switch off the flame.

Halwa should be covered till serving time.

While serving, heat slightly and garnish with almond slivers.

Remember to share the recipe if you like it. Spread the word. Let others enjoy this recipe too.

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