Monday, January 27, 2014

Carrot Halwa / Carrot Pudding

As a kid, I always liked to munch fresh carrots. I still do love to eat it raw. The other day when I was picking up carrots at the grocery store, an old lady came up to me and said, "You wouldn't stock up these many carrots unless you have a rabbit at home".... I just smiled. What else was I supposed to respond? That I am the rabbit at our house :P.... Oh that reminds me, I kind of skipped having them for a week or two and I was surprised to see those organic carrots still fresh in the refrigerator. Hmm..that makes me wonder, how organic are those "organic labelled" carrots ?



Anyways, it was usually during winter that we used to get these fresh red carrots, that my mom would make the carrot halwa out of it. And we would stay near the kitchen premises to check out every now and then if it is done :).




Carrots being rich in Vitamin A, a normal amount of it being added into your diet could help improve vision. I had a weird liking towards wearing glasses when I was a kid. I would come up with silly reasons of headaches, pain in my eyes etc. so that Papa could take me for an eye test. I have been taken to many doctors - some would send me off even without a prescription and some would be kind enough to not disappoint me and prescribe eye drops to keep my eyes cool. Noone understood my real intension of visiting them. Finally when the time came that I started working on the computers that I took an anti glare glass and was so happy to have wore them :). Long story short, I believe carrots do help improve vision.



Today I realized that I have so many pending drafts to publish. May be I just kept cooking and eating and hardly published anything. So I am gonna work on my drafts strictly else my hard disk will be left with no more space to store those pics. So let me start with this recipe.



Ingredients

  1. 3 tbsp of ghee/ butter
  2. 4 cups of grated carrots
  3. 1/4 cup of sugar
  4. 1/2 cup of milk
  5. 1-2 cardamom crushed
  6. 2 tbsp of roasted and chopped Cashews and almonds
Method
  • In a pressure cooker, melt the ghee/ butter. 
  • Add in the grated carrot and cook it on medium heat. 
  • Once the carrots get tender, add in half of the sugar, milk and cardamom.
  • Mix it well and let it boil.
  • Once it starts to boil, close the pressure cooker with the lid.
  • Pressure cook it on high heat for about 2 whistles.
  • Remove it from the heat and once the pressure gets down, open the cooker.
  • Adjust the sweetness of the halwa by adding the left over sugar, as required. Add the chopped nuts to it.
  • Place it on heat and stir it continuously untill the milk gets thickened.
  • Garnish it with cashews and serve it hot/ cold as desired.
Tips
  1. Do not overcook the carrots in the pressure cooker, as it would turn out into a paste. Carrot halwa should have the feel of the grated carrots in them :).
  2. Carrot Halwa gets delicious when ghee/butter is added in the amount that is given above. However, if you do want to avoid using too much ghee, you could cut down the amount and it would still render a tasty dessert. 
  3. To make it richer, you could add Khoya/ solidified milk and raisins to it. I haven't used these in the above recipe. 


26 comments:

  1. i guess it's with all kids, even i wanted to wear glasses that i used to sit in front of the TV, kittiyappozho kittiyathu soda kannadiyayi poyi ennu maathram... :D i love gajar halwa any time, provided somebody grates it for me... urs looks delicious, just the way i like, with no carrot bites at all! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Rafee ....Ayo..enji agrahiche agrahiche ennikum kannadi kittumo entho :)....

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  2. Yummy carrot halwa ...like the way u have shaped them.
    Anytime I see carrots I too buy and stock them but they would always end up in salad. I have been longing to eat carrot halwa past so many days.Wish someone grated it for me so I could make it right now ...hate grating.

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    Replies
    1. Thank u Meena :).... I agree.... grating oru menakedde anne

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  3. looks very yummy!!!!!!!!!1 :) and thanks a lot for posting.

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  4. Tasty healthy carrot Halwa. Colourful and tasty one.

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  5. Carrot halwa has come out beautifully. Halwa looks really delicious and tempting.

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  6. Your carrot halwa is super tempting and simply superb sis...

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  7. I love the photos.. they look fantastic! I don't like carrot halwa but the man in house loves it. He is drooling over your pics ;-)

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  8. The halwa looks yummy! I have been wanting to make these & unfortunately the ghee is over:( I am waiting for the weather to get better so I can go out & do some grocery shopping.

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    Replies
    1. hmm.. it's snowing there right? Hope that the weather gets better soon

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  9. What should I say now Anupa?? Lovely halwa from a lovely rabbit! :) ha ha looks so yum.. wish to have a scoop ful

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  10. Hey Anupa,
    First time to ur blog,This carrot Halwa looks superb.Loved ur chocolet chip cookies they looks so perfect....Happy to visit ur blog

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  11. I love carrot halwa any time. Its been ages I had made some. I really want some so bad. I always have a stock of carrots in my refrigerator. I want to make it so bad Anupa or you parcel me some :)

    Since I grow organic veggies in my garden, depends upon the veggie, I know some tubers like carrots, beets etc..stay fresh in the fridge if cover properly and kept. Even the zucchini stay crisp for 1 to 2 weeks if kept covered with little bit of airation.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank u Shibi :)... I am experimenting with a carrot kept in the fridge for some time now...They appear to grow roots on them but surprisingly don't go bad...Oh I didn't know zucchini could stay fresh for long....

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    2. Growing roots is a good sign that there is no chemicals coated on the carrot for shelf life. Usually they spray some kind of chemicals on potatoes to avoid sprouting. I keep my potatoes in dark cold place away from onions to avoid sprouting. If there is not too much of moisture in the fridge, carrots can stay fresh in the fridge, especially when wrapped in a paper towel, it can stay longer.

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    3. Oh thatz good to know...so they r safe to eat alle....pedikathe thinnam...

      How much I wish I could grow some (if not all) veggies for our use..*sigh*

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  12. I also desired to wear glasses in my school days........but college il vachu kurachu naal vakkendi vannappol mathiyayi....... n ur carrot halwa is so delicious and tempting .......and for me I had a failed attempt........carrot grate cheyyanulla madi karanam...athu mixie il ittu adichittu cheithu nokki.......but didnt wrkd :(...

    ReplyDelete

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