Today I am sharing the easy recipe for carrot halwa. Making carrot halwa is not only easy but also a lip smacking treat for every sweet tooth in the house.

        Carrot halwa or gajar halwa can be a very tedious desert to cook but this easy recipe can make it “no pain, only gain” task. I personally don’t like carrot halwa because I am not a sweet tooth at all but I love cooking. I don’t often make deserts but this is not the case with gajar halwa because it’s my mom’s most favourite sweet dish. Once winter arrives and we can get those sweet red juicy carrots, I collect all the ingredients and starts grating carrots to make this special Indian desert.

 

        Carrots are actually a root vegetable and very healthy. They are the best source of vitamin A and everyone knows vitamin A is very essential for healthy eyes. Apart from this carrots are also good source of anti-oxidants and dietary fibbers, beta carotene, potassium, vitamin C, vitamin K and are super healthy.

I feel it is not fair to make something not so good for health dish from this healthy treat of carrot. This is the reason I always make a healthy version of carrot halwa. I don’t skip sugar for the sake of health but I use only red sweet carrots for halwa and red sweet carrots are best for making carrot halwa. I don’t recommend orange carrots for desert as they are less juicy and sweet. Use of skimmed milk instead of full cream milk and least possible amount of oil or ghee is also going to make healthier. Those who are vegan can make this recipe using almond milk or coconut milk instead of regular cow milk.

 

        This recipe of carrot halwa is going to be made with a deep pan, so it’s going to be somehow time consuming because in microwave and cooker version carrots get cooked more quickly but they require more amount of oil or ghee to be used and carrots take time to be cooked in a pan and there also need for continuous stirring after incorporating sugar but I personally like the traditional way of cooking carrot halwa. One more thing, make sure to gather all the necessary tools and ingredients before starting to cooking processes so you don’t have to rush to get anything from selves when you start. Now let’s get to the recipe.

 

Ingrediants:

This will make for 5 servings.

Red Carrots – 1 kg,

Skimmed milk – 200 ml,

Water – 300 ml,

Clarified butter/Ghee – 1 tablespoon,

Sugar – 1 and a half cup sugar (Adjust according to taste),

Green cardamom – 4,

Chopped dry fruits and nuts – 1 cup (almond, cashew, raisins, walnuts, pistachio etc)

Desiccated coconut for garnishing (Optional)

 

Method:

1. Firstly wash carrots and peel them and cut the upper green part and discard it. Grate the carrots using a grater or a food processor can also be used to grate carrots.

2. Powder the cardamom seeds with the help of a mortar and pestle and keep aside.

3. Roast all the dry fruits and nuts, set aside.

4. Heat clarified butter/ghee in a non-stick deep pan. Transfer grated carrots in the pan and turn the flame on high, sauté for about 4 to 5 minutes. (Turn the flame on low occasionally if you feel the pan has gotten more heated than required).

5. Now add milk and water in the pan and cook with lid on high flame. Stir occasionally.

6. Once the halwa starts getting thick, add sugar in it. Do not add all sugar at once, add one cup of sugar and keep stirring on low flame and let it melt then taste the halwa and add more sugar it required.

7. Keep stirring the halwa until it gets dry and turn dark orangey red in colour.

8. Now turn off the flame and add cardamom powder and roasted dry fruits and nut, mix well.

9. Garnish with desiccated coconut and serve hot. Carrot halwa can also be served cold, refrigerate it to serve cold later.

 

Tips:

1. Use full cream milk instead of water and skimmed milk for making completely traditional recipe of carrot halwa.

2. Those are on diet or diabetic can use sugar free instead of regular sugar.

3. If you don’t like dry roasting, toast dry fruits and nuts using ghee or oil but use moderate amount of ghee or oil.

4. Use a thick grater if you don’t like mushiness in carrot halwa, thin grated carrots turn mushy while cooked.

5. Add sweetened condensed milk and cream to make the halwa to be richer.

6. Don’t add all the sugar or sweetener at once, add a moderate portion then add more after tasting it.

7. Keep stirring after you incorporate sugar or sweetener, else the carrot halwa will start sticking at the bottom of the pan.

8. You can also skip the milk and cook with water only and add almond paste at the end for taste.

 

Tips for making Vegan Carrot Halwa:

1. Use almond milk or coconut milk instead of using regular milk.

2. Replace ghee with regular vegetable oil or almond oil. (Almond oil or peanut oil can be a better replacement for clarified butter but any sweet oil can be used).

        

                                    These are the simple tip that can be followed to make different version of halwa other than the healthy one. I hope you liked this easy and healthy recipe of carrot halwa. Don’t forget to share and if you have any suggestion please do leave a comment.