How to Make Carrot Halwa with Jaggery

This traditional Indian dessert is known either as carrot pudding, or gajar ka halwa. It is a delicious dessert favourite and makes the perfect end to a party.

Ingredients

1 cup milk
5 carrots
Jaggery (solid concentrated cane juice)
1 tablespoon elachi (cardamom) powder
2 tablespoons ghee
Dried fruits (raisins, cashew, almond) - optional

Part 1

Part 1 of 2:
Preparing the Carrots

1
Wash the carrots. Cut off the top and bottom ends.
2
Grate the carrots. Put the grated carrot into a bowl.

Part 2

Part 2 of 2:
Cooking

1
Add 1 tablespoon of ghee to a kadai or frying pan. Fry the grated carrots for 2 minutes.
2
Add the milk and fried grated carrots to the pressure cooker. Mix the ingredients well. Let the mixture cook in the pressure cooker over a low flame for 15 minutes. Take off the lid after the steam evaporates automatically.
3
Place the jaggery into a saucepan. Add some water to it and boil till the jaggery melts. It will form a sticky syrup known as jaggery syrup. Filter this syrup to remove any grit from it, as well to obtain a smooth and fine liquid.
4
Mash the pressure-cooked carrots. Add the mashed carrots to the jaggery syrup (adjust the taste and add little by little). Mix well. Let the mixture boil for sometime till the water in the carrot dries up.
5
Add the elachi powder. Mix well.
6
Add a spoon of ghee to a frying pan. Add the dry fruits (if using them) and fry. Once fried, add them to the boiling mixture.
7
Remove from the heat and press into a dish. Refrigerate the halwa to let it set.
8
Serve cool or warm it up again, according to your taste.

Community Q&A

Question

If I add jaggery to hot milk with halwa, will the milk burst?

Community Answer

The acidity in the jaggery will curdle the milk if they boil together. If adding raisins to the kheer, add it at the end after switching it off the flame. The acidic nature of raisins may curdle the hot milk. Using whole-fat milk also helps in preventing curdling.

Warnings

Don't use coconut milk instead of ordinary milk as coconut milk may curdle. Coconut powder can be added at the final stage before adding the dried fruits.

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Simmer the stove while steam cooking the carrots––do not boil the carrots for too long, as the carrots may lose their medicinal value.

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