Gajar Ka Halwa (Carrot Dessert)

Winters have never been excessively cold here but due to the recent cold front, I’ve been eating all sorts hot-off-the-stove foods to warm up my chilled body. In this weather, you practically need all of your meals to be scorching hot, well not hot enough to burn your tongue and disable your taste buds but you know what I mean 🙂

One dish that my mom makes is gajar ka halwa which is the perfect sweet dish for this cold weather. The best quality about this dessert is that it can be stored in the fridge for about a month as long as you only take out and heat the portion that you’re going to eat right away. Although, one can never have too much of this dessert, a spoonful of gajar ka halwa goes a long way in terms of satisfying your dessert cravings along with the burst of flavors that leave a tingling feeling in your mouth. So go on, make this halwa right away and let me know whether it succeeded in warming you and your family up!

Gajar Ka Halwa (Carrot Dessert)

By mohini

Skill Scale: Moderate
Serving: 8-10
Cook Time: 105-120 minutes

Ingredients

carrots - 2 lb, (peeled and grated)
beet root - 1/8, (grated)
whole milk - 2 quarts
butter - 1-2 stick
granulated sugar - 1 cup
elaichi powder (cardamom powder) - 1 tsp
almond (slivered) - 1 cup
pistachios (slivered) - 1-2 tbsp

Instructions

In a heavy bottomed pan, pour whole milk and add grated carrots and beet root
Boil on high flame
After you see a boil in the milk, lower the flame to medium and stir
Continue to boil and stir occasionally (every 4-5 minutes) until the milk evaporates for about 45 minutes to 1 hour
Add sugar to the pan and stir. NOTE: Because you have added sugar, the mixture will have a liquid consistency again
Continue to boil and stir occasionally (every 4-5 minutes) until the water evaporates for about 30 minutes
Add butter to the pan and continuously stir the mixture for about 15 minutes and make sure the mixture remains thick and doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan

NOTE: The butter enhances the flavor so add 1 stick at the minimum but if you want more flavor then proceed to add the 2^nd stick of butter