Gajar Ka Halwa

The carrots are grated and cooked down in milk, and the nuts are fried in ghee before they go on.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (ghee), dairy (milk), dairy (whole milk).

Ingredients

• 1 kg carrots, grated
• 800 ml whole milk
• 200 g sugar
• 100 g khoya, thickened milk
• 6 cardamom pods, seeds ground
• 60 g almonds, slivered
• 40 g pistachios, slivered
• 40 g raisins
• 5 tablespoons ghee

Method

1. THE CARROTS ARE GRATED AND COOKED DOWN IN MILK, AND THE NUTS ARE FRIED IN GHEE BEFORE THEY GO ON. Its article gives the whole method in one sentence and the second half is the bit people skip: grated carrots in a pot with water, milk, sugar and cardamom, cooked with ghee WHILE STIRRING REGULARLY -- and the nuts and other items used are FIRST SAUTEED IN GHEE. Raw almonds scattered on top taste of almost nothing; the same almonds turned in hot ghee for a minute taste of toasted almond and ghee both, and that is most of what a spoonful of this tastes like.
2. THE MILK IS REDUCED ONTO THE CARROTS, NOT POURED OVER THEM. Eight hundred millilitres to a kilo of carrot, simmered and stirred until there is no loose liquid left at all. Forty-five minutes. This is the dish and there is no shortening it.
3. IT IS STIRRED REGULARLY, WHICH ITS ARTICLE SAYS, AND MORE OFTEN AS IT DRIES. Milk and sugar on a pan bottom catch within seconds once the mixture is thick.
4. THE SUGAR GOES IN AFTER THE MILK HAS MOSTLY GONE. Earlier, and it draws water out of the carrots and the reduction takes half as long again.
5. THE KHOYA IS ITS ARTICLE'S OWN ADDITION AND IT GOES IN LATE. It lists the dish as a combination of nuts, milk, sugar, KHOYA and ghee with grated carrots. Crumbled in for the last five minutes.
6. THE GRATING IS COARSE, NOT FINE. Fine grating turns to paste; coarse keeps strands you can see, which is how a good one looks.
7. IT IS DONE WHEN A SPOON DRAWN THROUGH LEAVES A CLEAN LINE. And when the ghee has begun to separate at the edge.
8. THE RAISINS GO IN THE GHEE WITH THE NUTS AND ARE WATCHED. They swell and then burn, in that order, quickly.
9. IT IS SERVED HOT, WHICH ITS ARTICLE SAYS TWICE. Hot, in winter. Cold it sets firm and tastes much less of cardamom.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes