Carrot Halwa

Indian Desserts, Indian Sweets, Quick Recipes, Winter recipes

It is a common practice that 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 and we usually finish them all in a couple of days, but the milk sweets 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 feel that it is our greed to use cow’s milk, and hence we have no right to waste milk or milk products. So I always look for efficient ways of using left-over milk, curd or milk sweets, and I find carrot halwa as the most delectable transformation of milk sweets.

sb Carrot Halwa
Milk Sweets

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 it instantly using milk sweets as the substitute of milk products & sugar.

ch-main Carrot Halwa
Carrot Halwa

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

ch-dinner Carrot Halwa
Dinner with turmeric chappathi, paneer masala & carrot halwa

I used red carrots for the bright red color and I preferred to microwave them to retain the color (as pressure cooking makes them look pale). I also prefer to garnish this dessert with bright green pista to make it look so impressive. Now the recipe for instant carrot halwa is as below:

Time taken: 15 min

Yields: 1 cup (200 ml)

ch-2 Carrot Halwa
Carrot Halwa recipe

Ingredients:

Red carrots3
Milk sweets*as desired
Soaked pista (skinned & halved)as desired
Cardamom 2
Ghee2 teaspoons

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

carrot-halwa-ingredients Carrot Halwa

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.)
  • Crush the cardamom seeds using mortar & pestle and leave aside.
  • Crumble the milk sweets using fingers & keep aside.
ch-misenplc Carrot Halwa

Carrot halwa using microwave oven:

  • 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.
carrot-halwa Carrot Halwa
Carrot halwa prepared in microwave oven

131 comments on “Carrot Halwa”Add yours →

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  12. I’ve seen carrot halwa before but never tried it! Your version is especially beautiful with those vibrant red carrots. Now I’m curious to see how it might turn out with other heirloom varieties, like purple carrots, too!

    1. Yes, I do like to try with purple or yellow carrots, but they are hard to find here.
      Thank you so much Hannah!

  13. One of my absolute favorites!❤️❤️
    Loved your twist of adding the “mithai” – shall try and see! 😉

  16. Carrot halwa is an all-time favourite dessert at our place. Such a great idea to make use of leftover milk sweets to make it! I’m bookmarking this recipe – will definitely try it out whenever we have any sweets left over. 🙂

    1. Yes, I’m glad that I could transform the unpopular milk sweets into delicious halwa. 🙂 Thanks much!

    1. Yes, you can use any left-over milk sweets, either home made or store bought, just to make the cooking process simple & easy.
      Thanks!

  32. I started enjoying carrots when I was in college! Now I love carrots . I used to make dumplings with grated carrots and Thai basils.
    This weekend, I am going to try Carrot Halwa! Thank you for the wonderful recipe. ^^

    1. I’m so happy to hear that you like to try Indian recipes. Thank you so much. 🙂

  34. Such a beautiful color on the halwa and love the presentation. Like how you are talking about aptly using milk, couldn’t agree more?

  40. Your presentation in swan bowl is so beautiful. Carrot halwa is liked by all but I feel the only difficulty is even if we take more carrots the quantity will look less after cooking I believe as you used milk sweets quantity also will be sufficient, thanks for giving great idea.

  42. Queen of desserts ❤️
    Love the beautiful usage of leftover milk sweets and this is such a nice idea?

    1. Yes, I do like it with ice cream, but I’ve got coughs & cold, so I couldn’t. 🙂
      Thank you!

  53. Such a lovely blog you have with photos and yummy recipes.
    Using the mava mithai in the carrot halva is indeed creative.

  54. Lovely share Megala,Carrot halwa using milk sweets and the microwave method is new to me Nice bright color as well. Looks fantastic.

  55. Yumm!! It is one of my favourite sweets. Also, have you tried adding beetroot and carrot? I tried it once, it turned out to be pretty good. ?

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