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AI-generated photograph: A neat round of glossy deep orange carrot halwa on a white porcelain plate, scattered with ruby pomegranate seeds and a few strands of saffron

Home · Recipes · Gajar halwa, slow cooked carrot pudding

South Asian · Desserts

Gajar halwa, slow cooked carrot pudding

slow cooked carrot · cardamom milk · pomegranate

AI-generated photograph

Grated carrots cooked slowly in milk until it all but disappears, then finished with ghee, sugar and cardamom. A warm, fudgy pudding made in North Indian homes all winter.

Contains: milk, as written. Contains milk, from the whole milk and the ghee. Nuts are often scattered on top of this pudding, but they are not in this recipe.

Ingredients

  • 600g carrots, peeled and finely grated
  • 750ml whole milk
  • Optional: a pinch of saffron threads
  • 30g ghee (clarified butter)
  • 100g granulated sugar
  • Half a teaspoon ground cardamom
  • To serve: 40g pomegranate seeds

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Let's cook

  1. Put the grated carrots and milk in a large, wide, heavy pan. If using saffron, crumble it in now. Bring to the boil on a medium heat, stirring.
  2. Turn the heat down so it simmers briskly. Cook for 40 to 45 minutes, stirring every few minutes and more often towards the end, scraping the bottom so it does not catch. The milk slowly cooks away into the carrots.
  3. When almost no liquid is left and the mixture looks thick and creamy, add the ghee. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring, as the carrots fry gently in it and turn a deeper orange.
  4. Add the sugar. It melts and makes the mixture wet again. Keep cooking and stirring for 8 to 10 minutes until it is thick and glossy and pulls away from the sides of the pan.
  5. Stir in the cardamom and take the pan off the heat.
  6. Serve warm in small bowls, or press into a round cutter on the plate for a neat shape. Scatter with pomegranate seeds.

Tips

  • A wide pan cooks the milk away faster than a deep one.
  • It keeps in the fridge for 3 days. Reheat gently in a pan or the microwave until steaming hot, with a splash of milk if it is dry.
  • Red carrots, sold in winter in Asian grocers, give the deepest colour.

Swaps

  • Vegan: use 600ml unsweetened oat or soya milk plus 150ml coconut cream instead of the milk, and 2 tablespoons of coconut oil instead of the ghee. Check an oat milk is gluten free; soya milk adds soya.
  • Traditional finish: scatter with chopped pistachios or almonds (these add tree nuts).

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