Carrot Beetroot Halwa | Gajar aur Beetroot Halwa

I am celebrating the 500th post on my 4+ years old site - The Chef and Her Kitchen through a sweet recipe - Beets & Carrot Halwa.
Halwa is a popular Indian dessert which gets featured in any Indian wedding or occasion.There are various varieties of halwas and the most popular among them is Carrot Halwa aka Gajar ka Halwa.Though I do not prepare halwa varieties often but during winters, I do not miss preparing Carrot halwa with the red Delhi carrots which are available only in that particular season. The extra sweetness of the red carrots adds a nice taste and makes the halwa more delicious.This winter season, I paired the red carrots with fresh beetroot and prepared this delicious Beets & Carrot Halwa. Well yes - its been a while since the winter season - its been over 4 months since I prepared it - as  I was preserving this post for the occasion. 

Halwa is usually prepared using Khoya/Mawa but I use Condensed milk to prepare it, as it is difficult to fetch mawa sometimes.The addition of condensed milk does not alter the traditional taste of halwa and also makes the preparation process a bit easy.I prefer to use my small Hawkins pressure cooker to prepare halwa instead of kadai as the process is quite quick.One can follow the same process for preparing various halwa varieties like Carrot halwa, Beetroot Halwa and Lauki(bottle gourd) halwa.Check out my Lauki  ka Halwa recipe which I prepared in a similar way.

Beets - Carrot Halwa | Gajar aur Beetroot ka Halwa Recipe:

(Serves 5-6 generously)

Ingredients:

2 medium Beetroots, peeled and grated

4 large Red or Orange Carrots, peeled and grated
2 cups Full cream Milk
1/2 tin Condensed milk(200ml approx)

1/4 tsp Cardamom Powder
4 tbsp Sugar(add it accordingly)
2 tbsp chopped Cashew nuts
2 tbsp flaked Almonds
2 tbsp flaked Pistachios
2 tbsp Raisins
4 tbsp Ghee

Method: 

• Heat 2 tbsp ghee in a small pressure cooker and add grated carrots and beetroot to the remaining ghee and fry for 3-4 mins and add milk to it and close the lid and bring it to full pressure on high heat and remove cooker immediately from heat.
• Release the pressure immediately and open it(or you can cook the grated carrots and beetroots in milk on a stove top which is bit time consuming).
• Place the cooker on high heat,add sugar and condensed milk and cook until the liquid dries up(approx for 15-20 mins) stirring occasionally.
• Add 2 tbsp ghee and cardamom powder and cook until the ghee separates from the mixture(this takes approx 10 mins),stirring constantly.
• Heat ghee in a small pan and fry cashews and raisins and add this to the halwa,add flaked almonds and pistachios and mix everything.

Serve the halwa hot/cold garnished with flaked almonds and pistachios.You can even serve it warm with vanilla ice cream.

Notes:

1. You can make just beetroot or carrot halwa using the same recipe.You can even prepare bottle gourd(lauki) halwa following the same process.
2. You can replace condensed milk with 1/3 cup mawa(khoya) and also increase the sugar quantity to 1/2 cup approximately.
3. I use pressure cooker as it is easy and faster to prepare,you can do the whole process in a thick kadai.You need to be patient as it takes more time to prepare halwa.
4. I used less ghee in preparing this halwa,you can add little more if you want it really rich.
5. I used Red carrots(Delhi variety) to prepare this halwa,you can use either red or orange variety of carrots to prepare the same.

This spoonful of halwa is for you all for your constant support which helped me to reach this far milsetone.I must thank all my readers,blogger friends and family for your support.