Living among the Indian diaspora and the asian community has helped me cook a lot of diverse asian dishes. And regularly I go back to those dishes because they are healthy and also good for the stomach when you want to give into the cravings.
Here's the grated carrot desert named Halwa.
Ingredients
- 4-5 grated carrots
- 1 cup butter
- 500 ml milk
- 1 tbsp cardamom powder
- 1 tbsp cashew powder
- 5 crushed almonds
Optional : watermelon seeds
Method
There are multiple ways to make this, but here's the method that I have learned so far.
- Heat the pan and add the butter into the pan and let it simmer.
- Add the carrots and heat them for a minute or two into the pan.
- Now add the milk into the mixture and stir the mixture for a minute.
- After 15 min, the mixture will boil, so put the mixture on the medium heat.
- Add the sugar and then continue to stir on the medium heat.
- Once the sugar is properly mixed add the remaining milk into the mixture.
- Add the cardamom powder and the cashew powder into it.
- Keep the mixture on medium heat for next 20 to 30 minutes.
- After 15 minutes make sure to turn off the heat and keep the mixture covered.
You can also add the khoa into the mixture when you add some sugar. But that would make it crispy and sugary.
Garnish it with the crushed almonds and also add the watermelon seeds if you can. Watermelon seeds always taste good if you like that crunchy taste.
You can also store this desert into the fridge and consume it over a period of week or so. Usually if kids are around it would get finished in a few days and wont last for week.
This dish is particularly tastes well during the winter and the spring. It's not much popular during summer as it is too much sweet and do note that it is full of high calories not suitable when you are getting your weight reduced. If you add the khoa or mawa into the recipe then better not give this recipe to those who have blood sugar or the diabetes. Health wise this recipe can be not so good news especially if the blood sugar and weight gain is your concern.
I have learned a lot from my friends in Indian and Pakistan diaspora. So there is a lot I wish to share while I learn and practice those cooking skills along the way. If you have tried this recipe and have made any variant of this dish then do let me know about it in the comments. I would be happy to learn new things from you.