No Ghee No Mawa Gajar Halwa | Indian Carrot Pudding

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Gajar Halwa is a traditional Indian sweet or a pudding made using fresh carrots slowly cooked in milk. Many varieties of this winter delicacy exist. Some cook it along with ghee, mawa or condensed milk. Sugar is being used as a sweetener of choice, but again variations exist. Today I am sharing this No Ghee No Mawa Gajar Halwa, which is a recipe learnt by me from my mom and I am making it for years now.

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Why no Ghee or Mawa?

No I am not against Ghee or anything like that. I do add this super food in all my dishes and my tadka in dals in incomplete without it. But in this No ghee No mawa halwa it is really not needed. Surprised? when the whole Internet is flooded with adding dollop’s of ghee to the halwa. The key to making this halwa without ghee or mawa is a very good quality milk. If you source a good quality buffalo milk or full fat milk you really do not need that extra fat.

The fats come in from the milk. Ghee or clarified butter is made from the cream of milk and Mawa or khoa is nothing but reduced milk. So when we are using a good quality full fat milk and allowing the Gajar or carrots to simmer in the milk until the milk reduces we are invariably doing the same thing. i.e. using the ghee and mawa.

I agree directly using mawa in gajar halwa reduces the cooking time drastically, but sourcing mawa is not always easy. Specially outside India. Yes one can make mawa at home, but it takes time. At such times such recipes do wonder and I treasure this No Ghee No mawa Gajar Halwa, recipe of my mom as I do not get mawa here.

Typically Gajar Halwa is made using the Red Carrots we get in India. Again we do not get this here and I make it with the Orange Salad Carrots available here. Believe me the halwa taste amazing and I have not added any drop of food colouring here too.

What is being updated?

I have not changed the recipe at all. However I am updating the pics of this and sharing this with our group “Foodies_RedoingOldPost” where we would be updating our old posts with content or pics every 2 weeks. I created this group as it is very important to update our old post. At times we are in rush to click or are 100 percent not happy with the post. It is also an opportunity for us to go and revisit the recipe to check if over a period of time if we have modified the recipe.

So for the Seventh week of #Foodies_RedoingOldPost_7 (6-Sept-2019) , I am updating my No Ghee No Mawa Gajar Halwa recipe with content and pics. My earlier update was Sonth (Saunth) using Jaggery | Tamarind Chutney , Sada Dosa and Green Coriander Chutney, Paneer Paratha, Zucchini/Courgette Fritters.

Here goes the recipe for No Ghee No Mawa Gajar Halwa :

Ingredients

• 1 Kg Carrot
• 1 Ltr. Full Fat Milk/Buffalo Milk
• 1 Cup of Sugar (1/2 cup more might be needed if you prefer more sweet)
• 1.5 tsp of Cardamom powder
• 1/2-1/2 Cup Chopped nuts (Almonds, Cashew, Pistachio)
• Some nuts for garnish.

Preparation

Method 1 – Cooking of Carrots and milk

• Bring the milk to boil in a heavy bottom pan, stirring in between.
• Once the milk starts boiling, add in the carrots.
• Let this now cook on slow flame stirring frequently.
• We need to cook this until almost all the milk gets evaporated.
• This process might take around 1.5-2 hours depending on the quantity of milk.

Method 2 – Cooking of Carrots and milk

• Bring the milk to boil in a heavy bottom pan, stirring in between.
• Reduce the flame to slow and let the milk reduce to at least half.
• In the mean time in a pan or a microwave cook the carrots .
• If using pan, slowly cook the carrots on slow until they are tender and at least half cooked.
• If using microwave, let the carrots cook on high power for 8-10 minutes until the carrots is a ender and at least half cooked. .
• Stir in between after every 4-5 minutes when using microwave.
• Once the carrots are half done add this to the milk mixture.
• Allow this to cook on slow until the milk gets evaporated.

Remaining Process

• Now add the sugar.
• This will make the mixture a little watery again.
• Let it cook again stirring frequently until it is evaporated.
• Switch off and now add the Cardamom powder and nuts.
• Yummy and Delicious No Ghee No Mawa Gajar Halwa is ready.
• Garnish with nuts and serve.
• One can enjoy this cold or hot.
• Many add a teaspoon of ghee when serving hot.

Notes

• Cooking on slow is essential or else you would burn the milk or the carrots.
• Full fat or whole milk is needed to give the necessary creaminess and richness to the dish.

Love to read your comments and feedback. If you have any questions please ask in the comment section. I will try to answer as soon as I can.

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