CARROT HALWA RECIPE

Carrot Halwa is a Pakistani / Indian dessert made using carrots and milk. It is usually garnished with nuts and raisins.

Let me tell you, this is one of my favorite Pakistani desserts - the sweet taste and texture of carrots goes out of this world once cooked! It almost fades, which makes it so delicious when served hot on a cold winter's day.

Carrot halwa is a popular dessert to serve at weddings and parties. Due to the abundance of winter carrots available in Pakistan / India and also due to the warm properties of carrots, it is considered as a winter dessert - some families recommend cooking carrot halva at least once a year in winter.

How to make Carrot Halwa?

My carrot confection method has a very simple recipe using only carrots, sugar, milk, ghee, cardamom seeds and nuts. I don't use fancy things like lost or condensed milk and that's purposeful - I wanted to make this recipe more accessible and accessible to people who may just need to add basic ingredients.

Here are some tips to help you get the most out of your carrot halwa:

The quality of the carrots really matters here. Make sure you are using fresh, good quality carrots. In the UK, there are very few carrots that look red / pink - these are the best varieties to use. If you can get your hands on them, be sure to pick them - they look like the carrots you get in Pakistan / India!
When cooking carrots and milk, do not make the mistake of walking away from them for more than a few minutes. Carrot halwa requires a lot of attention and shaking and scraping the bottom of the pot, otherwise it may boil or burn.
If your food processor is great, using it will save you a lot of time and energy. If you have a greater option

INGRIDENTS:

2 kg carrots
3 cups whole milk
1 1/4 cup ghee, 1/4 for early frying and 1 for end
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 handful of nuts, optional but highly recommended
6 Cardamom Seeds (Cardamom).

Instructions

Cut the carrot heads and grind. If you have a food processor, you can use the grater settings to grind carrots (that's what I did).

Heat 1/4 cup ghee in a large pot over medium heat.
When hot, add cardamom seeds and crushed carrots and mix well. Carrot Halwa - A dessert by Fatima Cooks
Let the carrots cook, stirring occasionally. Carrots will release a lot of steam. We want to dry the carrots as much as possible before adding milk. This will take about 30 minutes.
Add milk. Bring to a boil, then bring to a simmer

Continue cooking, uncovered, until milk evaporates. This can take up to 2 to 3 hours, depending on the moisture content of your carrots and your temperature. It took me 2.5 hours. Remember to shake occasionally, especially during the last 30 minutes when the mixture dries and sticks to the bottom of the pot.

If you pull the halva to one side of the pot and see the milk come out of its sides in a few seconds, it means that the halva is still very moist and needs to be further dried.
Once most of the moisture evaporates, add ghee and sugar.

Continue to cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, for about 25 minutes. You may start to see the color of the dessert change to a deep autumn shade of orange and start to separate from the ghee carrots - that's normal and that's what we want!
When done, turn off the heat and cut the nuts in half. Garnish with remaining nuts.
Serve hot, by yourself or with ice cream.