The Recipe Room

Carrot Halwa is a delicious dessert. My grandmother used to make it for me, and I remember how she was able to get the rich mixture of carrots, nuts and milk just right. It is rich and heavy. But just a warning, this tasty Indian sweet is quite fattening.

It can be made with regular butter, but I prefer to make it with my Fragrant Ghee. Ghee just makes the taste that much more intense.

Many people garnish it with nuts and raisins as well. I suggest that if you do that, you do so sparingly as you do not want the taste to overpower this dessert. Just sprinkle a few nuts and raisins over it before you serve.

Ingredients:

• 2kg carrots
• 160g cashews, ground
• 1tsp cardamom
• Pinch of saffron
• 3 litres milk
• 800g sugar
• 4tbsp ghee

Preparation Method:

1. Peel the carrots.
2. Grate the carrots and leave them in a small bowl. Set the bowl aside.
3. Heat just 3 tablespoons of ghee in a deep pan on high heat.
4. Crush the cashews. You can do this with a mortar and pestle, or you can just put the cashews in a ziplock bag and pound on them with the bottom of a pot.
5. Lower the heat and put the crushed cashews into the pan and lightly roast them. They should turn light golden brown.
6. Remove the cashews and set them aside.
7. Add another tablespoon of ghee.
8. Add the grated carrots and stir slowly.
9. Sprinkle in the cardamom and saffron and stir for 3 minutes.
10. Now pour in the milk. You can use skim milk to make the Carrot Halwa less fattening.
11. Raise the heat and bring the milk to the boil.
12. Once it has boiled, lower the flame and stir slowly.
13. Cover the pot and lower the flame a bit more. Leave this to simmer for about 1 hour. Do not forget to check on it every so often and stir. After some time simmering, the ghee will start to ooze out, and it will become nice and thick.
14. Finally add the sugar and stir well.
15. Cook for another 10 minutes.
16. It is now ready to serve.

Makes: 1 large Carrot Halwa
Takes: 2 hours

Note: Although it isn’t an Indian dish, I also recommend this carrot cake recipe. What better way to eat your veggies than adding them to a dessert?