Healthy Gajar Halwa (Carrot Halwa)

Gajar Halwa is usually a favorite with kids of all ages. It is a simple dessert that can be very rich or lightened up considerably. My health conscious mother always went for the lightened up version. I remember coming home from school and having warm freshly made halwa as a snack.

My husband has a sweet tooth and so does my daughter. But neither like the rich loaded version of halwa. Instead we all prefer this version. My father is visiting so I made this as part of lunch today.

I made a very small portion with two carrots because no one likes to eat big portions of desserts in my house.

You will need
2 carrots
1/4 cup milk (at least 1%)
1/2 tsp. ghee

For garnish
4-5 cashews
8-10 raisins
5-6 slivered almonds
1/2 tsp ghee
1 pod cardamom

Pressure cook the carrots whole until tender. In my pressure cooker this is 5 minutes with whistle on before turning off heat. For whistling cookers this would be one whistle. Let the pressure go down on its own before opening the cooker. Let the carrots cool.

Using a scraper or dull knife scrape away the skin of the carrots. It should come away very easily. Break the carrot open length wise and discard the uncooked center stalk. Mash the pulp lightly and keep aside.

In a pan heat ghee and add the carrots. Saute for a couple minutes and then add the milk. On low heat let the mixture thicken.

Meanwhile heat the ghee for garnishing in a separate pan and roast the cashews, almonds and raisins. Keep aside.

When the carrot mixture thickens turn off heat. Shell the cardamom and crush the seeds to a powder. Add this powder and the roasted nuts and raisins to the halwa.

Enjoy!

This is my entry for week three, day two of BM #43 for the theme Healthy Desserts. Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#43.