Carrot Halwa - A South Indian Preparation
candies, desserts, indian
350 gm carrots
3/8 liter milk
1/2 liter sugar
5 cardamom pods
5 cashew nuts (optional)
10 raisins (optional)
1 ghee (optional - for frying
1 cashews)
The first step is to grate the carrots using a blender. It is a bit difficult getting it done using a cheap one. Persistence pays. :-)
Heat milk in a vessel and bring it to boil. Once it is boiling, add the grated carrots until the odor of carrots disappears and the odor of milk dominates.
If you have sugar crystals, it is probably better to make a thick sugary liquid separately (heating sugar crystals in water until the sugar dissolves completely). Alternatively, you can just add sugar to the preparation after Step 2. Heat the preparation until the sugar has diffused in the mixture and the mixture becomes thick.
Grind the cardamom pods using your hands to break them open and add them. If using cashews, break them into small pieces and fry them in ghee separately and add them. Add the raisins too.
The final preparation (whatever comes out!) is the halwa. It is best eaten after it is cooled.
NOTES The trick to tune the recipe to your fat/taste requirements is to have a fixed amount of carrots and vary the amounts of milk and sugar. If you need more milk, you can add it anytime and let the preparation for a little more time until it becomes thick.
CONTRIBUTOR Sridhar Venkataraman
with ingredient help from 'Samaiththup paar', a cookbook in Tamil.
Yield: 1 servings