Gajar ka Halwa

Wishing you all a very Happy Diwali!!I am wishing you guys a bit early coz we are taking the weekend off and I don’t know whether I would be able to wish on Diwali.Anyway,by wishing early,I’ll be one of the first to wish you..;-)So once again wishing all my blogger friends and my dear readers a happy and safe Diwali..have lots of fun!!

Let me present today,a favourite Diwali sweet-Gajar ka Halwa.I remember making this sweet with amma long time back and swearing to never make it again..yeah,even though it came out delicious,the effort that went into it was a bit too much for me.It takes hours to grate the carrot and then again hours to mix it in milk..?not my type of sweet at all..even with Milkmaid,it took a hell a lot of time for the carrots to dry up..!!Our neighbour in Ekm,Taramoushi(aunty) used to give us two dabbas every Diwali,one was Kaju katli and the other one was Gajar ka halwa,and she used to make it on Diwali day.I asked her how she manages to cook it up,and she gave me this wonderful recipe which doesn’t use milk at all and the cooking process is steaming,rather than hours of stirring.

I called her up few days back for the recipe and made it today.Came out just delicious…but let me warn you-this is not the traditional/authentic way to make this,just an easier and quicker method which produces an equally tasty and pretty halwa!!

Gajar ka Halwa

Ingredients

Carrots,grated – 2 cups
Sugar – 1 cup
Ghee – 1 tbsp
Crushed cardamom – 1
Nuts for garnishing

Method

Steam cook the carrots till well cooked(about 10 minutes).
Make sugar syrup by mixing 1 cup sugar with ¼ cup water till it reaches one string consistency.(about 5 minutes)
Mix the cooked carrots in the sugar syrup till it forms into a lump and starts leaving the sides of the pan(about 10 minutes on simmer).
Add ghee and crushed cardamom.
Garnish with chopped nuts(I used slivered almonds) and serve!!

Wish you all a very Happy Diwali!!

Update - Sending this Gajar ka Halwa to JFI-Festival treats,hosted by Srivalli.JFI is the brainchild of Indira of Mahanandi. Each month this event is guest hosted by bloggers, who choose a natural ingredient and other bloggers enthusiastically respond to it.. This month its celebrating food and festivals.