Gajar Halwa (Carrot Halwa) - Dairy and Vegan Versions
A creamy, rich sweet dish reserved for special occasions such as weddings. Well worth the effort. Details for the vegan version are shown in bold italics
Serves 6 - 8
Total time: 75 minutes
Suitable for: Vegetarians and those on a gluten free diet. Vegan version
Enjoy as a hot or cold dessert. I prefer it cold.
Surplus can be stored in the fridge (few days) or freezer (longer term) in an airtight container lined with baking/parchment paper.
To make a sweet potato halwa, follow the recipe as is but use 500g of sweet potato instead of carrots.
Handy Tip:
Place the milk on to boil and reduce first and then prepare the carrots, nuts etc to save prep time.
Dairy Gajar Halwa
Vegan Gajar Halwa (without saffron) Add few strands saffron for a deeper orange, optional
Ingredients:
500g carrots, grated (can use sweet potato and make sweet potato halwa instead)
1 litre of whole milk (I use organic whole milk)/1 litre of almond milk (I use Plenish as this is made using 6% almonds)
80g of brown/coconut sugar (I use coconut sugar as it has a lower glycemic index and contains some micro nutrients)
25g melted ghee (or unsalted butter)/25g of melted coconut oil
I teaspoon of crushed cardamoms
20g of sultanas
40g pistachio nuts sliced, plus extra for sprinkling on top (traditionally pistachio nuts are used but almonds can also be used plus extra for sprinkling on top)/40g sliced almonds.
a couple of strands of saffron, optional
Method
Rinse the pan with water (stops milk sticking to the bottom of stainless steel pans). Add the milk and cardamoms and bring to the boil.
If adding saffron, soak a few strands of saffron in a tablespoon of the warm milk in a bowl from above and set aside
Continue boiling on a fairly high heat (where it boils semi vigorously without boiling over) stirring occasionally until most of the milk has been absorbed/condensed (c. 45 minutes). Turn down the heat as the milk condenses to prevent it catching the base of the pan. Stir more often at this stage.
In the meantime, scrape, wash and grate the carrots.
Add grated carrots to the milk, stir and bring back to the boil on fairly high heat.
In a separate pan/small saucepan melt the ghee/coconut oil. With the heat on a medium/high setting, add the sultanas and stir through until they puff up and are lighter in colour. Take off the heat, scoop out the sultanas and keep aside.
Going back to the carrot/milk mixture, turn down the heat to medium (if not already done so) once most of the milk has condensed and simmer gently stirring for another 5 minutes or so. Add the saffron infused milk if using.
Add the sugar ghee/coconut oil, nuts and sultanas and combine. Still on medium heat, continue simmering and stirring for another 20 minutes or so until the mixture starts to leave the side of the pan.
At this point the halwa is almost ready. As soon as the halwa comes away from the pan forming a smooth ‘ball’ and leaves a clear channel when the spoon is dragged across the halwa at the base of the pan, it is ready.
Turn the mixture out into a 19cm diameter greased sandwich cake tin (or any other suitable dish) and flatten gently. Garnish with edible silver sheets with a sprinkling of nuts on top.
Allow to cool, then cut into squares/diamonds. Serve as a dessert.