Carrot Halwa or Punjabi Gajar Ka Halwa with step by step photos. Carrot Halwa is made across India for all the festival celebrations like Diwali, Sankranti, Holi and for family celebrations as well.
Carrot Halwa in my opinion is the ultimate Indian dessert or sweet ever. I would even declare it the King of Indian sweets. There could be nothing more perfect than a bowl of warm carrot halwa on a cold day during Winter.
The chewy, caramelized carrots slow cooked in an open vessel for almost an hour is a treat in itself not only to kids but to adults as well. Its surprising that a dessert could taste so heavenly with just a handful of ingredients.
Gajar ka Halwa always takes me back to the time while I was working as a recipe tester for an electric rice cooker company. We used to make it daily, a number of times to get the timings and consistency perfect to get it printed in the cook book. I got so thorough that I can cook carrot halwa with my eyes closed in sleep as well.
There are several ways by which you can cook this carrot halwa. You can use pressure cooker or the microwave to cut short the process of cooking but the real taste lies in taking the time and painstakingly cooking it over low flame continuously in an open pan. Its incomparable.
Mostly I use my electric rice cooker as I do not like to spend much time in making this halwa however much I love it, but this time challenged and pushed myself to cook it the traditional way as my entire family loves when made the traditional way.
I was so happy to see fresh Delhi Carrots in the shop from which I used to buy vegetables a few weeks ago, Halwa is what I could think of immediately.
I have always felt that these carrots are much more juicier and sweeter than the regular ones and when made into a halwa these carrots give the dessert a more bright and deep orangish hue that the regular ones fail to give.
I also personally prefer these carrots only to make halwa as I can always cut short on the sugar and depend on the natural sweetness of the carrots which are at any given time more healthier. But if they are not available at your place or when not in season, by all means use the regular carrots.
Carrot Halwa Recipe with Step by Step Photos:
1. Wash and trim both the ends of the carrots. Lightly scrape the outer skin using a peeler. Grate the carrots using a grater. I used my food chopper.
2. Heat a thick bottomed pan with 3 tbsp ghee and roast broken cashew nuts till golden brown. Drain and keep aside. Add the grated carrots and mix well. A wooden spatula works well.
3. Saute for 15-20 mins over low flame till the raw smell of the carrots disappear. Add all the milk and mix well. Increase the flame to medium and cook while stirring often.
4. After 15 mins the carrots would have cooked well absorbing the milk an thickened considerably. Now add the sugar and mix well.
5. After adding the sugar once again the mixture will become liquefied. Cook over low flame till the halwa once again starts to become thick.
6. After 5-7 mins, add crushed cardamom pods, remainig ghee, roasted cashew nuts and mix well. Cook over low flame for another 5-7 mins till the halwa comes together in a ball without sticking to the sides. Garnish with almond slivers and serve either hot or cold.
Check out other easy dessert recipes like Carrot kheer, custard powder halwa, mango sheera to make for festivals and other special occasions and get togethers or potlucks.
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Carrot Halwa Recipe details below:
- Carrots – 1/2 kgs or 5 nos approx.,
- Sugar – 1 cup (200 gms)
- Whole Milk – 1+1/2 cup ( 300 ml)
- Ghee (clarified butter) – 6 tbsp
- Cashew nuts – 10
- Almonds (badam) – 7 (optional for garnishing)
- Cardamom powder – 1/2 tsp
- Wash the carrots and trim their edges. Scrape the skin lightly and grate all the carrots using a grater and keep aside. I used my food chopper.
- Soak the almonds in some warm water for 15 – 20 mins. Peel the skin off and chop them into slivers and keep aside.
- Chop the cashew nuts into small pieces and keep aside.
- Heat a heavy bottomed pan or urli and add 3 tbsp of ghee. When it becomes warm, add the chopped cashew nuts and roast over low flame till golden brown. Drain them completely, transfer to a plate and keep aside.
- Now to the same pan, add the grated carrots. Simmer the flame completely and sauté for 15-20 mins. The color of the carrots would have completely changed and it would have gotten cooked completely. But the most important thing is the raw smell of the carrots would be completely gone by now.
- Now add the milk to the cooked carrots and increase the flame to medium. Let the carrots cook in the milk till the entire mixture almost becomes dry. Keep mixing in between to avoid the carrots sticking to the bottom of the pan. This should take 15-20 mins.
- Now add the sugar and mix well. Once you add the sugar, the entire mixture would once again become liquefied or of loose consistency.
- Once again keep cooking till the entire mixture becomes thick. The sugar would begin to caramelize the carrot and milk mixture and the you can see that the consistency becoming sticky. This should take 15 mins.
- When the halwa becomes dry, add the remaining 3 tbsp ghee, cardamom powder, roasted cashew nuts and mix well. Cook for 5 more mins while mixing continuously and the halwa will come together in a mass. Switch off flame and take off stove.
- Serve hot or warm in individual bowls sprinkled liberally with almond slivers.
The sugar quantity can be adjusted according to personal taste. I felt that 1 cup was just perfect without being overly sweet.
I used the seeds of 2 cardamom and pounded them well in my mortar and pestle and discarded the skin off.
cannt be a better sweet 😀 wow seriously drooling 😀
It really fastest amazing…I tried it jus today after reading this site….tnk u so much..I wish I cud post my halwa picture.. °. °
Thank you for the lovely feedback Sana. I’m glad that you liked the halwa.
how much time one should wait while sautein carrots in ghee…plzz tell
You need to saute for 5-7 mins minimum on low flame. When it looks like the carrots might stick to the bottom of the pan, add milk.
Tasty Colourful carrot halwa with Superb pictures…
Awesome post .i hope everybody will like your post
Looks perfect and yummy!
very inviting and tempting carrot halwa sis…
awesome Radhika! when you posted the pic of red carrots in FB, this came to my mind.. what beautiful colour. would make a wonderful dessert for Valentine’s Day as well.
My butterfly loved carrot halwa anytime…..,,,, delicious !
Lovely pics and awesome halwa
This looks heavenly radhika nice color u achieved
Super tempting and delicious looking carrot halwa…loved the color of the halwa..
I simply love carrots – raw or in dessert form… ur carrot halwa left my mouth watering
i’m literally drooling here looking at the carrot halwa… has been ages since i’ve made it and the pics are just tempting me way too much!!! yum…
Its probably one dessert that my mom totally approves of!. Looks splendid the orange delight in those cute bowls 🙂
my all time fav………………..
would make a wonderful dessert for Valentine’s Day as well.
Hi Radhika, thank you for sharing this great recipe! I just blogged about my try at it & added a pingback to your blog. https://sunnydistrict.wordpress.com/2015/02/21/sweet-talk/
Hope you will like it 🙂
regards,
Bipasha
Thank you so much for the feedback Bipasha. Yours look fantastic and makes me wanna dig right in.
Thanks for this yummy recipe.I tried it last night it came really so yummy and delicious.I must say the way you explain and the images are really help me lot to prepare.
Thank you very much for the lovely feedback. Glad to hear that the halwa turned out delicious for you.
Do you think there is any way to make this with coconut milk instead of cow milk?
Hi Christine, Traditionally buffalo milk is added as it is more rich and thick. You can add coconut milk too but sometime it may curdle and also the coconut milk flavor will dominate this halwa.
Thanks for the wonderful recepie… i enjoyed cooking the halwa myself. Everyone at liked it too.
You are most welcome Sudhir.
Gajar/ Carrot ka halwa is always superb, kindly tell, can I also add some kesar to it, while adding milk, thanks
Yes of course. It will not only give a good color but also the aroma will be good.