Gajar ka Halwa: Slow-Cooked Carrot Pudding with Ghee and Cardamom
Inspired by techniques from NYT Cooking.
Grated carrots cooked down in ghee, then simmered in milk with cardamom until thick, sweet and glossy, topped with pistachios and almonds.
Always check the labels of the products you use.
Method
- 1
Cook the carrots. Melt the ghee in the heavy pan over medium heat and add the grated carrots. Cook for 20-25 min, stirring often, until the liquid they release has evaporated and they look a shade darker and smell sweet. Cooking them dry first deepens the flavour.
- 2
Simmer with milk. Pour in the milk with the crushed cardamom, bring to a lively simmer and cook for 20-25 min, stirring and scraping the base regularly so the milk solids do not catch, until nearly all the milk has been absorbed.
- 3
Add the sugar. Stir in the sugar and keep cooking for 5-8 min. The sugar loosens the mixture at first, then it turns glossy and pulls away from the pan, with a little ghee shining at the edges.
- 4
Serve. Spoon into bowls while warm and scatter over the pistachio and almond slivers.
Storage
Cool, then keep covered in the fridge for up to 4 days or freeze for up to 2 months. Reheat in a pan with a splash of milk.
EU nutrition claims
- Low salt: 0.18 g salt per 100 g (limit ≤ 0.3 g)
Per 100 g of the finished dish, worked out from the nutrition per serving and the lowest likely cooked weight (about 229 g a serving), so the true values are, if anything, lower. Thresholds from the Annex to EU Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006. How we decide
Free sugars
15 g per serving
30 % of the 50 g daily maximum · 60 % of the ideal 25 g
Free sugars under 50 g a day, ideally about 25 g, based on WHO free-sugar guidance (not endorsed by WHO). The share shown is the share of one serving. WHO
Equipment
- box grater or food processor with grating disc
- large heavy-based frying pan or kadai
- heatproof spatula
Nutrition per serving (estimated values)
| Per serving | Amount |
|---|---|
| Energy | 368 kcal |
| Protein | 8.8 g |
| Carbohydrate | 38.2 g |
| of which sugars | 31 g |
| of which free sugars | 15 g |
| Fat | 21.3 g |
| of which saturates | 10.9 g |
| Fibre | 4.4 g |
| Salt | 0.42 g |
Protein per 100 kcal
2.4 g High Protein needs ≥ 5 g (20% of energy)
Calculated from USDA FoodData Central ingredient values
