Gajjar Ka Halwa

Grated carrots or gajjar, the most difficult task in this Recipe.

Carrot or gajjar ka halwa or is it pudding?? or Dry porridge? Gajjar ka Halwa by any name taste as good and every Indian wouldn't resist it even if their life depened on not eating it. The best thing that India invented is gajjar ka halwa, and when I prepared it today, it tastes no less than the neighbourhood mistan Bhandar. I'd say it was even better..And I say, I have arrived as a Chef!!!

Recipe will be up by evening. Got to rush to offfice now.
Here I am.

I always thought that Gajjar ka halwa was something I would never to able to prepare, and I used to regret that my mom don’t make Gajjar ka Halwa like mom’s in hindi movies do. The gajjar ka halwa at the mistan bhandar used to cost something around 12 bucks for a small amount when samosa used to cost 2 bucks apiece, I used to think,” Man! it must be difficult to make”. It was my favorite though, and I never had it as a dessert, but as an afternoon snack and so my love affair with gajjar ka halwa began.

And a few days back when I was preparing kheer (yes, I love to experiment), I thought “eh!, gajjar ka halwa must also be prepared this way”… And I did a quick googling but I couldn’t find a proper recipe, only a Quick gajjar ka halwa with microwave.. But I read up a few recipes before I figured out how it must be prepared. The rest is history in the Anthony’s bachelor kitchen saga!!

Food is never made from a recipe, but from the heart. I knew how to make the Gajjar ka halwa tasty.

Grating the gajjar was the more laborious part, but with passion, it was overcome.
I grated 1 kilo of gajjar, it was quite a lot, but I wanted to give some to the neighbour aunty. She just returned the plate and said that it was awesome and was as good as the one she tasted recently from the Gujarati co-passenger when she went to Tirupati.

I used the red juicy ones.. the translucent ones, I don't know if the orange colored ones tastes different ..
Next , I boiled 1 litre of milk, and added half a cup of milk powder (It taste good and I always add milk powder in kheer; also one of the recipes I read was prepared with milk powder.

I added the gajjar as soon as the milk started boiling.
Next time I prepare, I won’t.
This was a lesson I learnt. Since carrot is a juicy vegetable, it also gives out a lot of liquid and the milk takes ages to dry.
So let the milk boil till about 3/4th quantity remains.
Add 5-6 elaichis ( cardamoms). Don’t crush, just shred in half and add. It will be easier to remove later when you eat. Add sugar. 3-4 TBS should do. I added 3 and it was sweet enough.
Then add the gajjar and boil till the mixture becomes a semi solid.

Add some Cashew nuts and Badam (slightly crushed).
Add two TBS of Cow-milk Ghee. ( I think butter should do in the absence of Ghee, otherwise it is available in all leading supermarkets).

EAT and give me a feedback

And believe me it was very easy. As easy as making any other dish.