Gajar halwa/Gajrela is a very delicious dessert /sweeet of North India especially popular in Punjab.Grated carrots are cooked in milk and sugar and then pure ghee and nuts are added to give a nice taste and crunch,addition of khoya is optional as you can make this only with milk,or can add some condensed milk.
Prep time- 10 min
cooking time 20 min
Difficulty level-easy
Cuisine-Indian
Type-dessert
INGREDIENTS-
- Carrot-1 kg
- Full fat milk-1 liter
- Sugar-250 gms
- Khoya/solidified milk-1 cup*
- Cashew pieces /Kaju-1/2 cup
- Cardamom powder-1/2 tsp
- Ghee-5 tbsp
- Pistachio -to garnish
- Scrape the carrots and grate them .
- Heat 2 tbsp ghee in a heavy bottom pan,add the grated carrots and saute for a minute on medium heat.
- Now add milk and cook on medium heat till the moisture almost dries up .
- Add sugar and cook till it thickens again.
- Add grated mawa ,cashew pieces and cardamom powder.
- Mix and add 2-3 tbsp of ghee and stir fry for few seconds.
- Serve hot .
Take 2 cups of full cream milk powder in a glass bowl, add 2 tbsp of ghee or butter in it and mix well. Add some water and make a soft dough. Cover and microwave for 1 minute or steam in a closed container for 3-4 minutes. You may now mash or grate it and use it as required.
Note- 1-Use red Indian carrots for a nice and bright red colour,I used the American orange carrots,hence it has a orange red color..
2-In U.P we use a good amount of ghee to fry the carrots(approx. 1 cup) and that truly enhance the taste:)
