Carrot halwa (large scale)

Last week we celebrated 'Universal food festival' in our St.Cecelia's church. Our parishioners had brought a wide variety of foods from their heritage. Though it was a food tasting festival, the enthusiastic participants have made it like a bountiful dinner. Our Indian team has brought fried rice, Samosa(Ms. Naina), chaat food, Shirkhand (Ms.Novella), Mango pie, rava ladoo and carrot halwa (me). Our parish Father had prepared a very delicious Philippines chicken rice soup (Arroz caldo) in a very LARGE cooker and we all enjoyed a hearty warm soup.This soup made every one crave for more servings and we got it too:) The flan and sweet rice cake from Philippines also caught my attention. I loved the eggplant parmigiana (Italy),eggroll, fried rolls, dumplings, pastas, stuffed cabbage (Poland), lasagna (there was more but I couldn't remember the names). Cream cheese knots (Italy) was one of the most sought among the other delicacies like Baklava (Armenia), Cup cake, Irish Soda bread and the endless cookies.I admire the efforts our coordinators took to make this event a great success. Our Indian team coordinators MS.Novella, Ms. Naina, other ladies and their families welcomed each and every one of us and made the evening very enjoyable. Ms. MaryJane did a phenomenol compering and cheered up the guests with her beautiful voice. Totally we had a very nice get-together and looking forward for making all the upcoming festivals more successful.

Here is the carrot halwa I had made for the party. Hubby dear helped me by doing the important part...shredding the carrot , even during his busy schedule. After that I started stirring this halwa by about 8.30 pm on Friday and I knew it would take more than 1 hour. I wanted to quicken the process with a rich tasting carrot halwa. So I formulated my own version and here is it for a large scale. I got the halwa ready in nearly 45 minutes and it tasted very good (our guests words)...thanks be to God.

my recipe in Church's booklet ...feeling extremely happy ☺️

Ingredients:
Carrot - 3.5 lb (shredded - 8 cup)
sugar - 3.5 cup
condensed milk - 1 tin (8 oz)
milk - 1/2 cup
butter - 1 cup (2 stick)
cardamom powder - 1.5 tbsp
cashew nut - 1 cup
raisin - 1/2 cup
almond slivers - 1/4 cup
bread slices - 3
corn starch - 1 tbsp
water - 2 tbsp

Method:
Wash and scrape the skin of carrot.Discard the ends. Rinse again and grate the carrots in bigger teeth of the grater. Keep aside.

Melt the butter in a large wok in medium heat. Fry the cashew nuts first and take it out. Likewise fry the raisins till it puffs, take out and keep them aside.

In the same pan (in the remaining molten butter) add the shredded carrots and fry till raw smell vanishes. Now add milk to it. (I added 1/2 cup milk only as I wanted to make this halwa quickly, otherwise it could take more time and energy).
Wait till the milk is absorbed. After that add sugar and let all the water in carrot gets evaporated. Add condensed milk and stir continuously in medium heat. In the meantime cut the bread slices and pulse them in mixer / blender to get fine pieces. Add this to the halwa and mix well. After 5 minutes, mix corn starch with 2 tbsp water and add to the halwa (to get a glossy finish).
Stir well till it gets little thick and starts leaving the edges. Now add the fried nuts, raisins and put off fire. Mix the cardamom powder. Keep the carrot halwa in a serving tray and garnish with almond slivers. Carrot Halwa is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Serve hot or cold as dessert.

Note:
This takes less than 1 hour as we are adding thickening agents like bread crumbs and corn starch.
The above process is suitable for large parties as it won't require much stirring time.
Makes 50  small servings.

Carrot Halwa

Halwa means a fudge like sweet / dessert. Indians make a wide variety of halwa using flours, nuts, fruits, vegetables and the halwa gets the name of the main ingredient. Among them all, the carrot halwa is very popular worldwide. It is served as dessert during Indian weddings, festivals like Diwali , Christmas, Eid and in restaurants.
Halwa or halva came to India through the traders from Middle East during the Mughal period in India.
Other popular halwas are :
Flour based - sooji ka halva (rava kesari),  wheat halwa, coconut oil muscat halwa, besan halwa
fruits halwa - banana halwa, pine apple kesari halwa
vegetable halwa - pumpkin halwa, carrot halwa, white pumpkin kaasi halwa, beetroot halwa
milk and nut halwa - milk halwa (pal kova), badam almond halwa, pistachio halwa

Here is a well known simple but delicious Indian dessert. There are so many ways to prepare carrot halwa. My recipe includes a milk based carrot halwa, but we can make it with lesser milk too. I am sure you all will love this recipe. Try this and let me know.

Ingredients:
carrot (shredded) - 4 cups
whole milk - 3 cups
condensed milk - 6 tbsp (or) make paneer from 2 cups of milk.
(Click to see my paneer preparation)
sugar - 1 cup
cardamom - 1/2 tsp
saffron - a few strands
ghee - 2 tbsp
almond - 10
cashew - 10
raisin - 10

Method:

Shredding:

Wash and scrape the skin of carrot.Discard the ends. Grate it in bigger teeth of the grater. I don't prefer vegetable chopper for this, as we won't get the restaurant touch by using it.
(Anyways the halwa is going to increase my calorie intake and no harm in giving some exercise by manual shredding..he..he..)



Halwa:
We may need a non stick vessel or a heavy bottom wok.

Fry the nuts and raisins in 2 tbsp ghee. Keep aside.
In the same pan add the shredded carrots and fry till raw smell vanishes.
Now add milk to it.
Wait till the milk is absorbed. Add the saffron now.

After that add sugar and let all the water in carrot gets evaporated.

Add condensed milk / paneer and mix well.
Stir continuously in medium heat till the carrot halwa starts leaving the sides.

Now add the fried nuts, raisins and put off fire. Mix the cardamom powder.

Carrot Halwa is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Serve hot or cold as dessert.
It would be an excellent choice for a tea party along with vadai, masala chai and this halwa:)
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Merry Christmas !








Wish you all a Merry Christmas
as well as
beautiful, Prosperous and Blessed
Happy New Year!


Love,
Viki.


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Update:

 April 25, 2012 (Wednesday) Carrot halwa I made for International food festival in hubby's office  

This time I improvised my earlier recipe and got it more delicious.

Ingredients:

Carrot - 2 kg
condensed milk - 1 1/2 tin
whole milk - 3/4 liter
whole milk - 1 cup
ghee - 1/2 cup
sugar - 2 cup
cardamom - 1 tsp
bay leaf - 2
cloves - 4
cashew, pistachio, almond, raisin - 2 tbsp each
home made fondant flowers - to decorate

Method: 

Shred the carrot in bigger side of mandolin. Fry them 1/4 cup ghee with bay leaf.
Add 1 cup whole milk and cook well. after it is cooked (10 minutes), add sugar, condensed milk.
 Let all moisture evaporate (1 hour) in low heat and constant stirring.

Boil the milk and add juice from 1/2 lemon and boil for a minute. Strain and get the cheese (cheena). (Reserve the whey water for cooking rice or face wash).

 Remove all liquid from chenna and add to the carrot halwa. Mix well. Fry the raisins and nuts in 1/4 cup ghee and add to the halwa. Heat till the carrot halwa leaves the edges. Add cardamom powder. Keep in serving tray. Garnish with shredded almond. Decorate as per need.

 Takes almost 2 hours.
Makes more than 30 - 35 generous serving.

Sweet note:
Thanks to hubby dear, I made it easy, as he shredded the carrots for me:)