Wishing you all a very happy and prosperous NEW YEAR. May God fulfill all your wishes and dreams.
Lets start the New Year on a sweet note.
What better than Carrot or Gajar halwa which I guess is everybody’s favorite.
You may laugh but really it has become a ritual to start the new year with this delicacy at my place.
When I was small and there were no ALL NIGHT NEW YEAR PARTIES my parents used to make this halwa while watching new year’s eve program on the T.V. My father used to peel and grate carrots and my mom used to do the rest of the things.
It used to be sooo much of fun. By midnight it used to get ready and the first thing we ate in the New Year is the halwa made by our parents. It felt our new year started with their love and blessings in the form of the sweet prepared by them.
Phew!!!! Miss those old lovely days.
So sharing my Mom’s recipe of making this halwa which is without any mawa or khoya.
INGREDIENTS:
Carrots 1kg
Full cream Milk 1ltr
Sugar 1 cup( add 1-2 tbsp extra if you like it on the more sweeter side)
Cardamom 5-6( Remove the husk and coarsely ground the seeds)
Fennel(Saunff) powder 1tsp (optional)
Rose water 1 tbsp (optional)
Chopped Almonds 8-10
Chopped Cashews 8-10
Almond Slivers 2tbsp
Pista Slivered 2tbsp
Ghee 3tbsp
DIRECTIONS:
Peel,trim the edges of the carrots.
Grate the carrots with the help of a grater(fine side) or you can use the food processor too.
In a heavy bottomed pan keep milk for boiling.
When it comes to a boil add grated carrots to it
Mix well. Keep the flame on low.
Keep stirring in between. Scrape off the sides of the pan to remove the dried up milk.
It’ll take about one hour for the milk to be completely dried up. And carrots will become soft.
Next add sugar. Sugar will release its moisture and you’ll see again that the consistency will become a little thin. Don’t worry, this is just the moisture released by sugar.
Keep stirring now otherwise sugar may get stuck to the bottom of the pan and get burnt.
Keep stirring until all the moisture dries. It’ll take about 20 mins for all the moisture to get dried up.
Now add Ghee and roast well for 4-5 mins.
Now add grounded cardamom seeds, fennel powder,rose water and chopped nuts.
Mix well. Roast it for another 5-10 mins.
Turn off the flame.
Garnish with nuts if you want.
You can keep this Carrot Halwa in the fridge for up to 1 week.
Enjoy!!!!!