Gajar Ka Halwa

Cuisine: North India
Serves: 3

Gajar ka Halwa is a sweet dish made out of Carrots (Gajar) & it happens to figure in my list of favourite desserts too. Since my husband is a carrot hater, this dish hardly gets to be made at my place. This dish is made across India for most of the festivals & celebrations. There could be nothing more perfect than a bowl of warm carrot halwa during winter .

               Traditionally this is cooked in an open pan which happens to be a time consuming process. However it’s totally worth the efforts once you take in the first mouthful. I made these with Delhi carrots because it gives a brighter aspect/hue when compared to the normal carrots available in the market.

Ingredients
• 2 large Delhi carrots or 3 large carrots grated
• 1 .5 cup full fat milk
• 2-3 tbsp. ghee
• ½ – ¾ cup sugar (See Notes)
• 1 tsp. cardamom powder (elachi)
• 1 tbsp. pistachios chopped
• Pinch of salt

In a pan, add the milk and carrots and bring to boil. Add the sugar and cook on a low flame till the milk dries up, stirring occasionally. Add the ghee and cook for about 8-10 minutes. Garnish with pistachios and Serve.

Note: You can substitute sugar with 100 gms of milk maid. Make sure you boil carrots with milk first and when the milk dries up, add the milk maid, stirring occasionally till it dries up. Always make sure you are stiring the halwa at certain intervals in order to avoid burning and sticking at the bottom of the pan.

Kerala Jalebi

Cuisine: North & South Indian
Other Name: Jaangiri or Imarti
Serves: 10-12 (20-25 pieces)

 

Well it was only recently that I came to know that the orange jalebis that are available in Kerala are made of Urad Dal (uzhunnum parippu). This is in contrast with the regular jalebis that are made out of maida and corn flour. Making these delicacies are not that hard & can be prepared in no time.

                                        The only thing to keep in mind is to grind urad dal into a paste without adding any water. For those who have tasted these orange jalebis, I can’t assure that you will get a 100% version that is readily available in the bakeries, but you still get something close to around 90%.

Ingredients
• 1 cup urud dal (uzhunnu parippu)
• 1 tbsp. Maida (flour)
• 1 tbsp. Corn flour
• Orange/yellow food
For the sugar syrup
• 2 cup sugar
• 1 ¾ cup water
• 2 tbsp. lime juice
Oil for deep frying

Soak the urud dal for 3-4 hours.
In a non- stick deep bottom pot, add sugar and water and boil until you get one thread consistency. Add lime juice in order to prevent crystallization. Keep warm.

Grind urud dal into a fine paste without adding any water. Transfer to a bowl and add maida, corn flour and food colour. Mix well until no lumps are found with a wooden spoon or spatula.

Heat the oil. Take a zip lock bag or paper/piping bag and stuff the batter into it .Cut a small hole on the tip and pipe out into rounds overlapping each other. Fry for 3-4 minutes on a low medium flame until firm to touch. Remove and immerse the roundels directly into the hot sugar syrup. Let soak for 2 minutes.

Remove, drain the excess syrup and serve hot. Enjoy !!!