Gajar Ka Halwa recipe , Carrot Halwa. How to make Carrot Halwa.

Gajar Ka Halwa.

 Gajar ka halwa, also known as gajorer halua, gajrela, gajar pak, and carrot halwa is a Carrot-based sweet dessert pudding from the Indian Subcontinent. 

Making the popular Indian dessert known as Carrot Halwa (a.k.a. Gajar Ka Halwa in Hindi or Gajrela in Punjabi) is so simple when you use my detailed step-by-step guide. Gajar ka halwa was first introduced during Mughal period. Gajar ka halwa originally contained carrots, milk and ghee but nowadays includes many other ingredients like mawa/khoya.

The word halwa comes from the Arabic word for "sweet," and refers to desserts that are cooked with ghee and sugar. Halwa is usually served hot as dessert or a snack. It can also be served cold and eaten as breakfast. Halwa can be made from any type of flour but most often it’s made from semolina (wheat), rice, or corn flour. The dish is usually very sweet and has a thick consistency that's similar to that of fudge or caramel sauce. Gajar ka halwa is a traditional Indian dessert dish that is made by cooking grated carrots with milk, sugar and ghee until it becomes a thick paste.

Ingredients 

Carrot 1kg

Milk 1-1.5 kg

Sugar 150-200 gms

Ghee (clarified butter) 

And nuts as per your choice.

Recipe

1 Peel carrots after washing and rinsing. 

2 Grate all the carrot with a grater or food processor. 

3 In a heavy kadai or wok, add ghee and temper some green cardamom and two three strands of saffron (optional). 

4 Add grated carrots in the ghee and saute them. 

5 Add milk in carrots and cook on medium flame to evaporate milk and to cook carrots.

6 Keep stirring this halwa mixture, scraping the sides of the kadai to remove the evaporated milk solids. Mix the milk solids into the cooking mixture. 

7 When milk is reduced to 80% we will do a second tempering. Heat ghee in another pan and roast cashew and shredded almonds. 

8 Add this mixture of ghee and dry fruits in carrot halwa, it will increase the shelf life of halwa and secondly it will enhance the flavours too. 

9 Now keep cooking halwa on medium flame untill carrots are cooked through. 

10 When carrot is completely cooked add sugar. If your carrots are not cooked then it will not cook after adding sugar, because the sugar will draws out water from carrot.

11 After adding sugar the halwa will thin down. Now cook the sugar. As it's very important to cook sugar. When sugar is cooked, the halwa will thicken on its own. 

12 And we are done. Just add a pinch of salt to the halwa. The salt will enhance and bind all the fragrance and aromas, like fragrance or green cardamom, fragrance of carrot, cooked and reduced milk. The salt wil highlight these. 

13 Your Gajar ka halwa is ready to eat now. 

Important

Always add sugar in the last when carrots are cooked through or else you will get gajar ka murabba.