Gajar Halwa

My lill Zeeyu got up at 4 am in the morning & started singing twinkle twinkle little star. I thought may be he will sing once & go back to sleep. Coz he does that sometimes in his sleep. But later started wheels on the bus goes round & round, I love you, twinkle twinkle... Now he was over me scratching my face, putting his finger in my mouth, nose, pulling my eyelashes. I was so sleepy that I ignored his behaviour & now the boy became louder & louder. He was trying his best to wake me up & he succeeded. And now what?? he holds my hand & takes me to the drawing room, he picks his fav car & gives me a naughty smile like he has achieved something. Gosh! I was like a zombie & just fell on the sofa trying to sleep. Now my lill fighter has a never give up attitude, every time I closed my eyes, he would wake me up. After few minutes he pulled me out from the sofa & took me to the kitchen. Mamma give... give... dhee ...dhee... (In konkani Dhee means give) I knew he was asking for vessels. I pulled out some vessels spoons & gave him. Now he was all smiles & went back to the drawing room & started cooking. I cant tell you how much he is inspired by what I am doing:) He loves to enact what I do in the kitchen. Once it was 6 am I woke up my maid & I went back to sleep.

I know many Mom's can relate to me. Since I have a broken sleep everyday, I feel so tired & lazy. I have now become regular in swimming, coz that is the only exercise I enjoy. I hope this swimming will help me in reducing some inches soon:) One big disadvantage of swimming is I have got tanned badly. Now coming back to todays post, Gajjar Halwa/ Carrot halwa is my hubby's favourite. This is a simple delicious Indian sweet. Goes well just like that or even with a scoop of ice cream. My lill boy also loves carrot halwa, so I trt & make it more often these days. This is how I made it.

Making time: 30 mins
Serves: 5

Ingredients:

• 3 cups grated carrots
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup fried cahew nuts
• 2- 3 Tbsp ghee
• 1/4 tspn salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 tspn cardamom powder
• 1 cup water

Directions:

1. combine grated carrots, water, milk & boil this on low flame with closed lid for about 5 to 8 minutes or until the carrots are soft.If the water gets drained off in between add some more
2. Now add in sugar, salt, cardamom powder & mix well into the carrots. Once the sugar mixes well it will thicken.
3. While adding the ghee the consistancy of carrots should be a little sticky. When you achive this consistancy, add in ghee, fried nuts & mix well. Saute this for 2 mins on low flame until everthing is well combined. Now the Halwa is ready.

Note:

1. There are various versions of Carrot Halwa & this is one version that I have shared.
2. You can also add color if required
3. You can be generous with ghee & nuts too.
4. Serve is warm or chilled.
5. You can add condensed milk too & it tastes great.

 

Milk Halwa

Had seen this recipe in a Cookery show on TV. It was actually Milk Burfi & the one I tried out turned out to be Peda or you can call it Milk Truffles as well:) . I am not disappointed as it tastes very good.


Ingredients:
1 Ltr Whole Milk
2 tbspn Curd
100 gms Sugar
1/4 tspn Cardamum Powder
1 tbspn Maida / All purpose flour
2 tbspn Chopped Almonds
Few Almonds to garnish on top
Pinch of Salt


Method: Mix Milk, Maida very well & heat it in a heavy bottom Pan. When its boiling well add in the curd, let it curdle. Keep boiling this on low flame till it becomes thick. Now add in sugar, Cardamom powder, chopped Almonds & salt. Keep stirring at this stage and this will get thick & sticky. Now you can take it off the gas and pour this in a greased Plate. You can serve it the way you want. either cut like burfi, Halwa or in a shape of ball like the way I have presented it.


Tip: 

1. After I added sugar, I transferred this to a non stick Pan as it was easier to manage this.
2. Kitchen will get messy while this is boiling as it will start spluttering.
3. I used Ghee to grease the plate and also to make them round in shape
4. This dish is rich & sweet so cant have lots. I have stored them in the fridge:)