I bring to you, the crème de la crème of Pakistani desserts - Gajar ka Halwa. Save this recipe for a day when you’ll be at home ALL DAY LONG, because this baby requires time, patience and a whole lot of stirring! (And preferably a food processor to grate the carrots) But believe me when I say it is worth every minute. You will be left with a decadent, nutty and distinctly fragranced dessert that will impress everyone, including yourself! Obligatory cliché food blogger background story incoming. Carrot Halwa with ice cream was served at my wedding, but by some sadistic twist of fate (read: crazy Desi wedding), I just didn’t get any. And I didn’t even realise I hadn’t had dessert till much later. To this day, my friends tell me it was the best dessert they’re ever had at a wedding. Anddddd, I don’t mean to sound like a moany brat of a bride, but I love dessert, and you’d think you’d get treated to a pretty memorable complete dinner on your big day, no? Am I really asking for too much here? But it’s OK. We forgive and forget. And so, whenever the thought of bride-me, saddled in a 13kg bridal outfit, missing out on some epic dessert comes crawling into my mind, I have decided I’ll be the bigger person and make some Gajar Ka Halwa for myself. I’ll serve it with some ice cream and pretend like it tastes just like the one I missed out on at my wedding. It’s the best I can do.
What is Gajar ka Halwa?
Gajar ka Halwa is a Pakistani/Indian dessert made using carrots, sugar, milk and ghee. It’s usually garnished with nuts and raisins. Let me tell you, this is one of my favourite Pakistani desserts - the sweet flavour and texture of the carrots once it has been cooked down is out of this world! It becomes almost fudgy, which makes it so so delicious when it is served warm on a cold winter day. Gajar ka Halwa is a popular dessert to serve at weddings and parties. It’s considered a winter dessert due to the abundance of carrots available in the winter season in South Asia, and also due to the warming properties of carrots - some households make a point of cooking Gajar ka Halwa at least once a year in winter. Strangely, you may have seen it garnished with boiled eggs at some point if you’ve been served Gajar ka Halwa in Pakistan or in a Pakistani household. Why? I have absolutely no idea, but it’s a thing! I think it could be because Gajar ka Halwa is viewed as a ‘winter’ dessert and eggs are also ‘warming’ - just a hunch! Let me know in the comments if you know the answer to this!
How do you make Gajar ka Halwa?
My method of Gajar ka Halwa uses a very simple recipe using just carrots, sugar, milk, ghee, cardamom seeds and nuts. I don’t use anything fancy like khoya or condensed milk and that’s intentional - I wanted to make this recipe more approachable and accessible to those who may just have to hand basic ingredients. The recipe starts off by heating the raw, grated carrots and cardamom seeds in ghee. We’ll let this fry for about 15 minutes before adding in the milk. We’ll leave this to cook on a low heat for between 2-3 hours. The milk will reduce significantly, and this is how we get the decedent, creamy texture we’re after! Eventually, the milk will condense and what will be left in the pot will be a thick mixture of the carrots and milk. You may notice white ‘specks’ in your mixture, and these are the milk solids left from condensing all that milk down. At this stage, we add some more ghee and sugar. This is where the ✨magic✨ will happen - where all the flavour, depth and caramelised nuttiness is cooked to life! We’ll give the carrot mixture a lovingly thorough fry off - the colour will deepen, it will begin to look glossy and the flavours of the ghee, carrots, milk and sugar will all marry together and become the Gajar ka Halwa we all love and want. We finish by stirring in some nuts and ideally serving this hot!
How to achieve a beautiful, bronze/orange shade
Over the years, a common question I’ve received is ‘how do you achieve the shade of orange shown in pictures?’ The more you fry the Gajar Ka Halwa mixture in the ghee, the darker the colour will be. This is a tip that can be generalised for other Halwas too, including Sooja Ka Halwa. More frying + more ghee = darker shade. PS: Want to try this with beetroot? Go ahead! You can substitute beetroot kg for kg in this recipe to end up with a luxurious, purple-hued Chikander ka Halwa which is also great to serve as a winter dessert! Enjoy, with love x
📋 Recipe
Enter your email & I’ll send it right over. Plus, you’ll get bonus Pakistani food-goodness from Fatima Cooks, like new recipe alerts, exclusive email-only recipes + more! By submitting this form, you consent to receive emails from me. Your details are secure. Opt-out any time.
title: “Gajar Ka Halwa” ShowToc: true date: “2024-09-28” author: “Roy Knox”
Gajar means carrot in Hindi and Urdu, gajar halwa is an Indian dessert garnished with nuts and dry fruits like almonds, pistachios, cashews and raisins. Gajar ka halwa is an North Indian and Pakistani traditional sweet also known as Indian carrot pudding. This carrot halwa recipe is made with khoya, AKA mawa. You might also like my sooji halwa, carrot cake, sheer khurma and mango kulfi. This halwa is not too heavy with ghee and khoya and has a perfect combination. This recipe is for 1 kg so you can easily double or triple the recipe.
Variations
This is the easiest and quickest carrot halwa recipe. Some popular and personally tested variation to this recipe are replacing khoya with Frigde: The gajar ka halwa can stay good for upto 10 days in the fridge. Freezer: You can freeze halwa for upto 3-4 months only. Freeze in flat layer in zip lock bags with small portion size for easy thawing and heating. To reheat add little milk and heat in a pan until hot. The whole process of halwa making is time-consuming, I highly recommend making a large batch and freezing the excess in small portions. You can make about 2-3 kg halwa in winter and freeze most of it. I particularly, recommended freezing so you eat halwa in small portions. I also send some to friends and family. Tin Canning: It is popular method to take canned gajar ka halwa from India and Pakistan to foreign country as gift or to be enjoyed later. You will need to put an extra layer of oil/ghee on top halwa in the can to increase the shelf life of gajar ka halwa. The extra fat can be removed before reheating. You need to be extra careful is cooking and removing moisture from halwa. The canned gajar halwa can last upto a year but the color is not as vibrant as fresh. I don’t recommend canning for more than 2 weeks for best taste. Consider storing the halwa cans in the fridge or freeze as soon as possible.
Malai or fresh cream: Fresh cream from milk is precursor for both ghee and khoya. If you have fresh malai consider using in this recipe. Adjust ghee and khoya in the recipe as needed. Milk Powder: You can skip khoya for milk powder in this recipe.
My Other similar recipes: If you try this gajar halwa recipe, I’d LOVE to hear your feedback in the comments. Your 5-ratings motivate me to do my best. Stay connected for more recipes and videos on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Youtube.
📖 Recipe
