Red Carrot Cashew Halwa Recipe

In India, Halwas are prepared in various typesand carrot halwa being one of them. Though taste wise carrot halwa made from red / orange carrot doesn't make much difference, but the ones made from red are more appealing to the eyes :).A good thing about this dessert is that you can indulge them without feeling much guilty as amount of ghee and sugar used is less in comparison to other desserts.

Ingredients :

Fresh Carrot - 1 kg
Milk - approx 1 litre ( you can use full fat milk for richness )
Sugar - 1 -1 1/2 cups
Ghee -3-4 tbsp ( can add or reduce this quantity)
Cardamom  - 5-6
Cashew nuts,almonds & raisins - as much as you like

Method :

• Wash,peel the skin and grate carrot using food processor or by hand grater.
• Add about 1 tbsp of ghee in a wide thick pan or kadai. Roast nuts.When they are golden brown in color,remove and keep aside.
• To the same pan add grated carrot and saute for abt 5 mins.Carrot will turn slightly pale in color..
• Now add milk and cook uncovered on medium flame.Let the carrot cook in milk .Stir once in a while.Continue the process till the carrot drinks almost all milk. This will take almost 30-40 mins.
• When the mixture is almost dry ,add sugar and mix well. You can observe that carrot mixture again liquefies and changes in color.
• Stir at regular intervals and cook till sugar dries up and mixture turns thick .This may take about 10 mins.
• Now add remaining ghee .You will observe that the halwa will get a nice glaze after the addition of ghee.
• Add cardamom powder, roasted dry fruits and mix well.Continue to cook till the carrot halwa acquires desired consistency (i-e) the halwa when turned forms a single mass .
• Switch off the flame and serve hot /at room temp or chilled .Remains fresh for about a week if refrigerated in a container.