Gajar Halva (Indian Carrot Pudding)

My dear readers, this is a very special post for me. This post is to celebrate 50 fans on my face book page ( https://www.facebook.com/TummyTales)  When I started the blog and created the face book page to share recipes, I was just doing something I always wanted to even as a kid cook and share recipes. However, the support and encouragement you have shown only drives me to keep raising the bar. It is said that behind the success of a man there is a woman; in my case there are two. My dear mom and my sister who have been encouraging and supportive in the blog, my mum has also willing opened her treasure of recipes some of which you have already seen on the blog. Each and every recipe passes through their stern exacting standards and only the perfected product makes it to the blog. Thanks dear mum and little sister.  To be honest, I don't cook because I have to blog or vice versa, I cook because it’s a passion for me and the reward is when someone tries a recipe from the blog and it turns out well. Thank you very much dear readers do keep writing with your thoughts, suggestions and comments. It would be nice to hear from you on what you feel on the face book page or the blog.

And so, to celebrate the 50th fan, we will make something that is synonymous with celebrations in India. Did I hear a loud and collective "Gajar Halwa”? Yes, absolutely right! We shall celebrate with the gajar halwa, a desert so rooted in Indian culture that Indian women can almost make it blindfolded. Its cousin the Doodhi (bottle gourd) halwa also has an equally good reputation but it’s the gajar halwa that calls the shots nevertheless. The test for a good gajar halwa is simple.  It should melt the minute you put it in your mouth.

This is also the right time to try out this recipe since carrots are best in this season. I tried my best to retain the original recipe and keep it as low as possible on the calorie meter as possible. Fortunately, it passed the quality test and here you have moist, succulent and melt in the mouth gajar halwa.

Make it. I'm sure the accolades and compliments will follow.

Gajar Halwa

Ingredients:

· 1 Kg Carrots

·  5-6 tablespoons ghee

· 60 grams roughly chopped mixed dry fruits (I used cashews, raisins, pistachios and almonds)

·  250ml condensed milk

·  600 ml good quality milk

·  1 cup powdered sugar (you could use whole sugar if you like)

·   ½ spoon green cardamom powder

Procedure:

·    Wash, peel and grate the carrots and keep aside. Roughly chop the dry fruits as well.

·    In a deep pan, add ghee. When the ghee is heated, add the dry fruits and lightly fry them. Once done, take out and drain on an absorbent paper. In the same pan, add chopped carrots and sauté those for about 7 minutes till the carrots are limp.

·    Add in the milk and the green cardamom powder and cook till the milk has dried up.

·   Now add the condensed milk, sugar and mix well till sugar has dissolved and the mixture forms a single mass. Please keep stirring continuously at this point or your carrots may burn near the bottom.

·    Add the dry fruits and give it a nice mix so the fruits are spread evenly throughout the halva.

·    This can be served cold or at room temperature. But it tasted best when it’s hot.

·    Want to indulge a bit more, add a small blob of ghee on your portion.

Pineapple Sheera (Pineapple Flavored Semolina Pudding)

I have been a great believer in the 'never-skip-breakfast' theory. The credit for this goes to my mum, who made sure that my sister and me had our breakfast before setting out for school, college or work. Although, I personally prefer the Indian variety like chappati, upma or dosa; the continental variety like ham, sausage etc. is eaten with equal élan. The only thing is that it should be piping hot and accompanied by an equally hot cup of tea. That's all that is required to get my day started.

Among the Indian breakfast variety, upma is the most preferred. Upma is primarily a sort a savory made from semolina (rava), onions, peas and seasoned with coconut. The sweeter version of the upma is called Sheera. This is usually made with ghee and generously seasoned with dry fruits. Another version of the Sheera is the “Pineapple Sheera”, which makes it to the blog today. This recipe was actually made by my sister (who by the way has a whole set of sweet teeth). Though personally, I am not a sweets person, I particularly liked this version since it contained my favorite fruit the pineapple. This is one sweet that I didn’t mind taking 3 servings; drop in a few dry fruits and you have a combination that is quick, easy and liked by everyone.

I'm sure you wouldn't want to wait to try this one. Here's the recipe.

Pineapple Sheera (My Sisters Style)

Ingredients:-

• 1 Large cup semolina (rava)
• ½ cup pineapple puree (*Refer Note 1 below)
• ½ cup pineapple pieces
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons ghee (clarified butter)
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup water (slightly hot)
• ½ tablespoons cardamom powder
• Few Assorted nuts (Rasins, Cashews, Pistachios)
• Few drops of pineapple essence
• A little butter

Method:-

• In a non-stick pan, heat butter; add the pineapple puree and the pineapple pieces. Let this cook for a while. Then add some sugar and mix well. Keep aside and allow cooling.

• In another pan, add the ghee & roast the nuts. Now take out the nuts and add semolina. Cook till the semolina has turned brown. Once it turns brown add the milk and hot water. Cook till the semolina has absorbed the milk and water. Add the sugar and stir.

• Now, add the pineapple puree and pieces while reducing the flame to low. Lastly, add the pineapple essence and cardamom powder the roasted nuts and stir well.

• Serve hot with a cup of coffee.

Notes

1. To make the pineapple puree

·   Clean the pineapple and chop the flesh roughly discard the center portion of the pineapple.

·     Grind this to a fine puree in the mixer and add a teaspoon of sugar for that bit of glaze.

2. We add sugar to the puree when cooking so that just incase the pineapple is sour; the sugar coats it renders it sweet.