Easiest Way To Make Gajar Ka Halwa / Carrot Halwa Recipe

One dessert I can swear by is Carrot pudding known as Gajar Ka halwa in India ! It was one of the first desserts I tried making when i was in school ! Hell yeah ! Carrot halwa prepared by mom doesn’t last two days. Everybody love gajar ka halwa and eat it either after a meal or relish it as a sweet dish whenever they get a chance :P
I am from a huge family with a whole lot of siblings and with so many of them one can hardly expect gajar ka halwa to stay refrigerated for atleast a week. Hence I myself made a version of gajar ka halwa which was easy and i could cook it in huge quantity without having to grate the carrots for hours ! Read on to know how to cook the easiest, tastiest and quickest halva recipe! You can use a pressure cooker to cook the carrots but I prefer the traditional way of cooking the carrots in thick bottomed vessel on a low flame. But I prefer
Preparation Time: 20 mins  
Cooking Time: 50 mins  

Ingredients

• 2Kg grated carrots
• 6 tbsp ghee
• 2 liter milk
• 3/4 kg sugar
• 250gms mava (khoya)
• 4 tbsp raisins (kismish)
• 4 tbsp chopped almonds (badam)
• 3 tsp cardamom (elaichi) powder

Method

1. Peel the carrots and wash them and set aside. Once the water has dried cut them into small sized pieces and grate them in a food processor. Its best to process them in 4-5 sections. do not add water.
2. Heat ghee in a pressure cooker if you are willing to cook in 5-10 minutes and if you have the time and want to go ahead with slow traditional method of cooking use a kadhai or a heavy bottomed vessel like I have used here. Its easy both the ways. Add the carrots and sauté on a medium flame for 10-15 minutes, while stirring continuously.
3. Now add the milk to the carrots and let it cook. The milk will start to thicken, keep scraping the milk solids from the sides and keep adding them to the cooking mixture.
4. Once the milk and carrot mixture has evaporated and redced to 1/4th of the mixture , add sugar and some more ghee, stir the mixture continuously.
5. Now add the khowa, mix well and cook for more 1 to 2 minutes, while stirring continuously.
6. In a tadka pan add 1 tsp of ghee and add raisins, crushed almonds to it. cook for 1-2 minutes. Switch off the flame. Add this to the carrot milk mixture . You can add them without frying in ghee, but I like the almonds and raisins to have a different taste hence fry them in ghee. Now add cardamom powder and cook for another 3-4 minutes.
7. Your carrot halwa is ready ! Serve hot or serve cold!

Carrot halwa is one of the favorite desserts in my family and its a favorite during winters. Just make sure the carrots you are using are fresh and juicy!With Eid ul Adha/ Bakri Eid coming in the next few weeks I plan on making this halva recipe. What have you planned to cook for the upcoming Eid? Temme!:D