The BEST gajar halwa you’ll ever make and it needs a few simple ingredients! This North Indian carrot halwa (aka Gajrela) is made traditionally (the old-fashioned way) so it’s time-consuming but the result is super delicious.
1lbCarrotsAround 500 grams or 4 cups loosely packed grated carrots (peeled, washed and grated)
2tablespoonsGhee (clarified butter)
5Almondschopped
5Cashew nutschopped
8-10Raisinsgolden
2 ½cupsMilkfull-fat whole milk
4strands Saffroncrushed between thumb and index finger
½cupSugar(⅓ cup if using red delhi carrots)
Instructions
Heat the ghee in a heavy bottom pan on medium heat. Once hot add chopped cashews and almonds. Fry until golden brown, drain excess ghee and remove it to a bowl.
Add raisins into the same ghee and it will puff up in a few seconds. Drain excess ghee and remove it to the same bowl, keep it aside.
In the remaining ghee, add grated carrots and mix. Saute for 7-8 minutes or until it starts to soften.
Add heated milk. (Note: I recommend heating the milk in a microwave or in a pan on another stove rather than adding cold milk from the fridge).
Crush the saffron strands and add.
Let the milk come to a boil and let it simmer on medium-low heat. Since we added heated milk, it will start simmering right away.
During the simmering process, milk will bubble up and froth up. Do stir every 5 minutes and scrap the sides and bottom of the pan as milk solids are stuck on the sides.
Keep simmering and stirring until all the moisture is evaporated and it becomes thick. During the end (when it becomes thick), you need to stir often and then constantly. (It took me around 45 minutes.)
Add sugar and mix. As it melts halwa becomes runny again and continue cooking with stirring occasionally. And stir constantly when it starts to thicken and cook until all the moisture is gone and it gets thick halwa consistency. This step took around 8-10 minutes for me.
Turn off the stove and add roasted nuts and raisins.
Notes
Grating Carrots:
I prefer using a food processor for grating purposes as it makes the task easy and gets done in minutes. If doing by hand then use a box grater (with larger grates).
Do not use a small size grater otherwise grated carrots will get cook faster and almost disintegrate into the halwa and you’ll miss the texture and bit in gajar halwa.
Sugar Amount:
At home, we prefer just enough sweetness for desserts (many Indians prefer slightly more sweetness for desserts). The given measurements make the halwa just sweet. So increase the amount according to your sweet preference.
Reduce the sugar amount slightly if using red carrots as they are sweeter than regular orange carrots.
Scaling the recipe:
You can halve the recipe and the cooking time will be slightly less.
You can double the recipe and in that case, the cooking time will be more. In this recipe, I made gajar halwa recipe with 1 lb (around 500 grams) of carrots and it took me around 1 hour 15 mins. If you make it with 3 lb carrots then it will take around 2 hours.
Roasting carrots in ghee: This step helps to bring out the flavor of the carrot. Plus, when milk is added to roasted carrots, the milk won’t curdle. Sometimes, if milk is added to raw carrots then the chances of milk getting curdled are high.Cooking Time: Take this simmering/cook time as a guideline. This time varies depending on the size and thickness of the kadai, your stove flame intensity, and the quantity of halwa you’re making.