For those who have a sweet tooth, Gajarko haluwa, carrot pudding, might be a good dessert or even serve as a snack. During the time when carrots are easily assessable in the vegetable markets, people in Nepal tend to make this dish as a dessert during the parties or even as a snack, in-between the meals. People, especially children in Nepal, love eating Gajarko haluwa. Although grating the carrot might seem to be troublesome and time consuming, the outcome of the work is worth it.

This is how carrot pudding is made in most of the kitchens in Nepal:

Ingredients:

2lb or ½ kg carrots

3 cups whole milk

2 cups sugar

3 tbsp ghee or clarified butter

½ tsp cardamom powder

Few saffron flakes

Chopped almond and/or pistachio

Procedure:

First and foremost, you need to do the most difficult task of the whole process, i.e., grate the carrot. Now, put the whole milk and sugar in a heavy saucepan and let it boil until you get half the quantity of milk you put to boil.

Then, in another sauce-pan, slightly fry the carrots in with a very little amount of ghee until it turns golden and the red color starts to fade. After that, add it to the milk and sugar mixture. Do not forget to stir continuously once it thickens as it might burn at the bottom of the pan without stirring. After it starts to thicken, add ghee (clarified butter), cardamom and saffron and stir the mixture on low heat until the ghee oozes out of the halwa. When the excessive ghee and milk evaporates, you halwa is ready.

Garnish it with sliced or whole dry fruits and serve it hot or chilled, according to your taste. Whether hot or chilled, carrot pudding is definitely worth a try.