Gajar Ka Halwa /Carrot Pudding

A popular and traditional Indian dessert made with carrot and milk.

Gajar halwa/Gajrela is a very delicious dessert /sweeet of North India especially popular in Punjab.Grated carrots are cooked in milk and sugar and then pure ghee and nuts are added to give a nice taste and crunch,addition of khoya is optional as you can make this only with milk,or can add some condensed milk.

INGREDIENTS-

• Carrot-1 kg
• Full fat milk-1 liter
• Sugar-250 gms
• Khoya/solidified milk-1 cup*
• Cashew pieces-1/2 cup
• Cardamom powder-1/2 tsp
• Ghee-5 tbsp
• Pistachio -to garnish

PROCEDURE-

1. Scrape the carrots and grate them .
2. Heat  2 tbsp ghee in a heavy bottom pan,add the grated carrots and saute for a minute on medium heat.
3. Now add milk and cook on medium heat till the moisture almost dries up .
4. Add sugar and cook till it thickens again.
5. Add grated mawa ,cashew pieces and cardamom powder.
6. Mix and add 2-3 tbsp of ghee and stir fry for few seconds.
7. Serve hot .

Instant khoya/Mawa Recipe:

Take 2 cups of full cream milk powder in a glass bowl, add 2 tbsp of ghee or butter in it and mix well. Add some water and make a soft dough. Cover and microwave for 1 minute. You may now mash or grate it and use it as required.

Note-

1-Use red Indian carrots for a nice and bright red colour,I used the American orange carrots,hence it has a orange red colour..
2-In U.P we use a good amount of ghee to fry the carrots(approx. 1 cup) and that truly enhance the taste:)