Well, any meal is incomplete without a sweet dish. So, for my first post I am going to share one of my favourite desserts “Gajar ka Halwa” (Carrot Halwa), a recipe that my mother used to make. Though this is a very common dessert in India which is usually being prepared in ‘milk’, ‘ghee’, ‘sugar’ and ‘khoa’ etc. But my mother used to prepare it in a very different, simple and a very healthy way which can be eaten as dessert, with chapatis or in breakfast as bread spread as well.
The basic ingredients for the halwa we need –
Carrots: 1 kg
Sugar: 200-250 gms (approx)
Ghee (clarified butter): 5-6 table spoon
Green cardamom: 3-4 pods and powder (1-2 gms)
Dry fruits: Handful amount
-Raisins
-Choice of Nuts: Cashew/ Almond/ Peanut/ Walnut
Preparation time (Half an hour to 45 minutes) excluding step 1.
Step 1: Boiling carrots
Peel the carrots and put them in a pressure cooker with some water and little bit of salt and let it boil. Turn the gas off after 4-5 whistles and let it cool down. Once the carrots are cooled take them out and place them in a mixer grinder make a fine paste.You can even mash them with a potato masher by hand or in the mixer grinder. Now put the paste in a clean cloth, tie it like a bundle (potli) and hang it in hygienic place to drain the extra water, put a bowl below to collect the water to avoid mess. Leave it for few hours or over night to drain the water.
Step 2: The Preparation
Once the water is drained, take the mashed carrots out from the bundle in a bowl and put it aside. Now, put on the burner and heat a pan. Pour one tea spoon ghee, once the ghee is hot enough add the dry fruits and toss for some time then keep them aside in bowl for later.
Next, put the remaining ghee into the pan, smash the cardamoms with a pestle and add them into the pan and stir for few seconds. Once it releases the aroma add the mashed carrots and keep stirring in a medium heat. Then add sugar after 2-3 minutes. You can use normal white sugar or brown sugar as per your food habits. The paste will release some moisture after adding the sugar, so keep stirring it till the moisture goes away. Then add the fried dry fruits and few pinches of cardamom powder and keep stirring till you get the dark colour (as in the picture). Or turn the heat off when it stops sticking to the pan and then it’s done.
Serve it hot. You can preserve it in the refrigerator for around one week and have it the way you like. Don’t forget to warm it after taking out from the freezer. Hot halwa tastes better!
Carrots: 1 kg 
THISTLE AND MINT 
Will definitely try the detour version as well
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