Carrot Halwa

Diwali is a festival of lights celebrated in India. Though it has religious importance for hindus this festival is celebrated as a time to light up your fire works by most Indians. Next to fire works Diwali is associated with too many varieties of sweets.

To wish all my friends this happy occasion I thought of blogging this recipe, a favorite and speciality of my sister. There are two versions, one is a rich variety made with milk khoa and a lighter one with just milk. Here I'm sharing the quick and lighter one. 

INGREDIENTS:

1lb Fresh Carrots

3 Cups Milk

11/4 Cups Sugar

4 Tblsp Ghee/Clarrified Butter

4 Green Cardamom Pods

A Pinch Saffron (optional)

1 Tblsp Almond Slivers (or cashews)

2 Tblsp Raisins

A pinch salt

METHOD:

   Clean, peel and grate the carrots. 

Soak the saffron threads in a tablespoon of milk and keep aside.

In a deep pan add a tablespoon of ghee and fry the almonds and raisins and keep aside. In the same pan add the grated carrots and fry them for few mins.Add the milk to this, bring it to a boil.Reduce the heat and let it cook until almost 3/4 of the milk gets absorbed. Stir often and take care it doesn't get burned.

Now add the sugar with a pinch of salt and mix well. The sugar dissolves and makes the mix looks watery but eventually it will thicken so stop worrying now 😀😀.

Increase the heat and a tablespoon of ghee now and keep stirring until the mixture begin to leave the sides of the pan. At this stage add the saffron soaked in milk, powdered cardamom and the fried nuts. Then add the remaining ghee,switch off the stive and transfer it to a serving bowl.

This halwa tastes best when aerved warm with vanilla ice cream.

Can be cooled and stored in refrigerator for about ten days.