Carrot Halwa

Generally we carry a box of assorted sweets, chocolates, or dry fruits when we visit our friends or relatives, likewise we also receive such gifts from our guests. We usually finish them in a couple of days except the milk sweets, they remain untouched for few days. Ever since I read a slogan encouraging veganism “cow’s milk is for calves, not for humans”, I began to believe it is our greed that we use cow’s milk and thereafter it makes me feel guilty to waste milk or milk products. So I always look for efficient ways of using left-over milk sweets, and I find carrot halwa as a delectable transformation of milk sweets that I like the most.

Carrot halwa is usually prepared by cooking carrots along with a good volume of milk and/or other milk products like khoya (khova), or condensed milk. Now we can prepare carrot halwa instantly by using milk sweets as the substitute for those milk products and sugar as well.

We can elevate the simple dinner at home to the next level by serving delicious carrot halwa as a dessert. We can serve carrot halwa along with ice cream to make it even more special.

I used red carrots for the bright red color and I preferred to microwave them to retain the color (as pressure cooking makes the carrots look pale). I also prefer to use pista for the attractive color combination. Now the recipe for instant carrot halwa as below:

Carrot halwa recipe:

Time taken: 15 min

Yields: 1 cup (200 ml)

Ingredients:

Red carrots	3
Milk sweets*	as desired
Soaked pista (skinned & halved)	as desired
Cardamom	2
Ghee	2 teaspoons

*I like to use equal measures of cooked carrot & crushed milk sweets.

Mise en place:

• Peel the carrots and grate them finely.
• Soak pista in hot water for an hour (or microwave for 3 min), peel their skins and cut them into half vertically. (If you like crunchier pista, you may use toasted pista instead of soaked pista.)
• Powder the cardamom seeds and leave aside.
• Crush the milk sweets and leave aside.

Carrot halwa:

• Add a teaspoon of ghee into a microwave-safe bowl.
• Add grated carrots, mix well and close the bowl with its lid.
• Microwave them for about 8 minutes (or until the raw smell disappears).
• Add the crushed sweets into the cooked carrots, mix well and cook again for 2 to 3 min.
• Now add cardamom powder, chopped pista, and ghee (1 tsp) and cook for a minute.
• Serve carrot halwa warm or chilled.