Gajar Halwa Recipe - Carrot Pudding

This is one traditional Indian pudding that I have absolutely loved, the best I ever had was in India, like in 1996 (yes, thats ages back!). Since then, my various cravings for it has gone unanswered... and now thanks to the google, I was able to recreate it right in my own kitchen!

Another motivation for me to learn up this recipe was the fact that my constant boasting & boosting about the gajar halwa had my hubby frustrated because he didn't even get to try the taste and goodness of this dessert, and he started to doubt if it was any good - come to think of it, it might just have been a very clever tactic to get me producing this dish myself.. hmmm...

One one fateful Saturday, even hubby was away working, I decided to put my skills & taste buds to test. I got the recipe from the below website:

http://festivals.iloveindia.com/diwali/gajar-halwa.html

Gajar Ka Halwa Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 kg Carrots
• 1 litre Milk
• 1 teaspoon Cardamom seeds
• 3/4 cup Water
• 3 tablespoons Ghee
• 2 tablespoons Raisins
• 2 tablespoons Almonds
• 2 tablespoons Pistachios
• 450 grams Sugar

Method

• Wash and grate the carrots. Soak the raisins in water for 30 minutes. Blanch and shred the nuts.
• Put the water to boil, when it starts boiling add the grated carrots. Cook for 5-7 minutes.
• Add the milk. Cook on a low flame for 1 hour stirring occasionally.
• Add sugar, mix well and cook till the sugar has dissolved and all the milk has been absorbed.
• Add ghee and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add the slightly crushed cardamoms and the raisins.
• Mix well. Remove from heat and arrange in a serving dish. Garnish with almonds and pistachios. Serve cold, hot or at room temperature.

I adjusted the recipe to fit 300gms of carrot. I only managed to snap the below picture while cooking, the picture after the dish was done was... errr... so delayed that the bowl went empty. The fact is your house will smell so delicious after cooking that you can't keep your hands off it. One warning though, grating 300g of carrots can be very tiring but a good workout considering the calories the halwa is gonna add on.


Now that I am in the 'Cooking For Love' mode (baby foods), I think this will be an excellenet dish in the future for my kid, but with reduced sugar & added cinnamon or something... what say you?