When it comes to make ahead winter desserts, gajar ka halwa is one of my favorites. Fond memories come flooding every time I make this. Grated carrot cooked in whole milk till it becomes mushy and melty with just sugar and powdered green cardamom as flavoring. It’s a winter specialty from Punjab. Gajar ka halwa (also called gajreila) is the perfect crowd pleaser dish – made at home, eaten at weddings, available in restaurants and sold at sweet shops, in a deep, wide platter, covered with chandi varak (thin silver foil) or in square pieces. Everyone has a recipe and mostly everyone has a taste for it.
It takes quite a bit of time to prepare this halwa but it’s worth toiling. I have seen my mom, her mom and I believe most moms would have cooked this carrot halwa in a similar way. Simmering the carrots and milk mixture on low heat. The longer you cook with full fat milk, the richer and delicious it will get. Desi ghee is added at the end to glaze and to enrich the flavor.
cooking red carrots with condensed milk
Red carrots are the best for this halwa and are much sweeter than the orange ones. If you cannot find red carrots add one beet for natural sugar and some bright color. I am giving you two methods of cooking this halwa – one with milk and the other with condensed milk. With the condensed milk it cuts down the cooking time a lot.
Ingredients:
2 kg carrots
1 beet (optional)
3 litre (+) homo (full fat) milk or 300 gm sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup white granulated sugar (skip if using condensed milk)
3/4 cup dry fruits (raisin, cashews, pistachios)
5-7 green cardamoms
4-5 tbsp desi ghee
Method:
Wash, scrape and grate the carrots and also beet (if using).
Combine grated carrots, beet and milk in a heavy bottomed pan. Cook on high heat for 15 -30 minutes, stirring when required until most of the moisture evaporates (If you are overly sensitive to the rawness of carrots then saute them more before adding milk).
In the meantime ground cardamom, discarding the shells.
Heat 2 tbsp desi ghee in small pan. Fry the nuts and raisins and keep them aside for a while. (Use the left over ghee for tempering any lentil dish).
Reduce the heat to medium. As the milk condenses into the carrots you will have to stir vigorously and scrape milk off the sides of the pan.
It will be orangish white. The milk should be boiling in the carrots not burning in the pot. If you are scraping brown colored milk from the sides then reduce the heat.
Add sugar and cardamom powder and stir thoroughly.
Cook until all the milk dries up. Add the remaining 3 tbsp desi ghee and cook further till the halwa glistens.
Stir in half of the dry fruits and turn off the heat. Serve it warm with more nuts on top.
When using condensed milk. Cook the grated carrots on medium flame, stirring on regular intervals till there is no moisture. Add condensed milk and cook till the milk is absorbed. add 2 tbsp desi ghee till the halwa glistens. Stir half of the fry dry fruits. Serve it warm garnished with more dry fruits on top.
November 2018
This post has been re-edited and updated with new photographs.
Malti
Hey Neetu, This halwa of yours look so healthy then whatwe eat in parties. Nice tip of adding beet to it. love to have carrot juice with ginger.
Anonymous
What a delicious dessert!
mjskit
Anytime I hear the word “pudding” I think really sweet with a lot of sugar. But it looks like this pudding is sweetened mainly by the carrots and dried fruits. It sounds wonderful and is one of the healthiest puddings I’ve ever seen! Thanks for sharing such a traditional dish!
Ambreen
That’s my favorite, I can finish the whole bowl in one go! Thanks for visiting me and for following back 🙂
Maayeka
Tempting and delicious ….
Kiri W.
How interesting – I haven’t had anything similar, and it’s not what I associate with carrots at all. I’d love to try, since carrots are so sweet I bet they pair wonderfully with your toppings 🙂
Anonymous
yummilicious and droolworthy.you have a nice blog.you can visit my blog and give ur valuable comments.
indu srinivasan
kattameethatheeka.blogspot.com
ratna
Great presentation of Halwa, for the first time my husband asked to prepare it for him. So I am heading off for shopping for carrots and other ingredient.
Teena Mary
So tempting!! Great recipe 🙂
Amina
wow… gajar ka halwa looks awesome.. delicious..
Dolly
I love this recipe, dear Bal, but I’ll have to make it with coconut cream instead of milk, to make it non-dairy. It should still be good, don’t you think?
Tarnjit Hemer
Binge worthy! Such a delicious dessert! And the aroma while it’s being made is unparalleled. Thanks for sharing Neetu.
Blackswan
Gosh, this looks so Christmassy! Definitely great for entertaining, Bal! xoxo