Carrot Halwa, Gajar Halwa

          Though I had made a resolution to do at least three posts in a week, something or other comes up and I am not able to keep it, I'll try to be more regular from now on wards ( hopefully ). Coming to today's post, Carrot Halwa, this is an easy and delicious dessert, we have to keep just one thing in mind, the final dish should not smell 'carrots'. I just can't have it, if it has the vegetable smell at the end, the texture should also be soft. We can use regular carrots for making the halwa, but since the red ones are now in season, I have used them, it gives a beautiful color to the halwa. The method is very simple, needs just a few basic ingredients, sugar, some milk, cardamon and a little ghee for flavor. We can serve it both hot or at room temperature, I prefer it warm, served as such or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side..

Need To Have

• Carrots - 2 big ones
• Milk - 3/4 cup
• Sugar - 3/4 cup
• Ghee - 2 tablespoons
• Cardamom - 2

Method

          Grate the carrots in a fine grater, it came up to 11/2 cups.

          Heat 1 tablespoon of ghee, add the grated carrots and saute it on low heat for about 5 to 7 minutes.

          Add the milk, cover and cook on reduced heat till all the milk is absorbed and the carrots are cooked completely. Then add the sugar and mix.

          Cook on reduced heat, the sugar will give out some moisture, cook till most of the moisture is gone and the consistency is like a thin jam or pudding. At this stage, add the remaining one tablespoon ghee and cardamom powder ( take the inner pods and powder it in a mortar and pestle ). Mix it for a minute and remove, serve it warm or cold.

Note
Once the halwa cools, it becomes thicker, so remove the halwa from the heat when the halwa is slightly loose.
I don't add nuts or raisins, but you can add some cashews and raisins, toasted in ghee.
Do the cooking on low heat, that way the carrots get cooked well and the raw smell also goes away.
Can be refrigerated, just warm it up a little and serve.
You'll get 3 to 4 small servings from the above measurements.
If the carrots are very sweet, can reduce the sugar by a tablespoon or 2.