Carrot halwa using organic jaggery

Carrot Halwa

Carrot or gajar halwa is a mughal period dish. And it's name originates from arabic word halwa which means sweet. It is strongly associated with Punjab. But it is favourite of North India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. But gradually it took its place all over India.

Carrot halwa originally contains milk, sugar  gajar and ghee. But with the passing of time  many ingredients are being added to this and also some ingredients are also replaced. Khoya and milkmaid is the new ingredients to the list and jaggery is the substitute of sugar in the dish.

Carrots are called as super healthy food. These are source of beta carotene, fiber, vitamin K, potassium and anti oxidants. These prevent heart disease and blood pressure. These improve eye sight, digestion and also an immune booster. 

Jaggery is made from unrefined sugar. It is better than white sugar. It improves digestion of food. It detoxify the body. It has antioxidants which build our immune system. It is a natural sweetener and provides energy over a period of time.

The recipe for all.

Carrot- 750gms 

Milk- 4cups

Milkmaid- 2tbsp

Ghee-3tbsp

Jaggery to taste

Cashew- 10 to 15

Raisin- a handful

Cardamom- 3 to 4

 Clean and peel the carrots. Then with a help of a grater, grate all the carrots. You will get 5 cups of grated carrot.

Put all the milk  in a deep pan and keep on the gas and let it cook. Let it reduce a little.

In a pan heat 1tbsp of ghee, add broken cashew and raisins. Fry them and bring out to a bowl and keep aside.

In the same pan heat all the ghee. Peel the cardamom pods and add to the ghee. Then add the grated carrots to the ghee and fry up to moisture evaporates. It should be fried up to dry.

Now add little milk to it and fry. Let the milk evaporate. Again repeat the same process up to all the milk added to the halwa. Now add 2tbsp of milkmaid to it and mix properly. Let it cook again and dry up.

Then add jaggery to it. I ve added 1/2 cup Jaggery to it. But it depends upon the taste. Let it melt in and dry up. Stir continuously so that it won't stick to the pan.

Let it dry up completely and follow your laddle. Now add fried cashew and raisins to it.

It can be served hot or cold as per your choice.