Halwa

[minisoji]

Carrot Halwa

Ingredients

Carrot - 1 kg
Condensed milk- 1 tin
Sugar- 250
Ghee- 1 tbsp
Cashewnuts, badam, raisins- To decorate

Preparation

Grate carrot, pressure cook with 1 cup water and 100g sugar till three whistles. Remove from fire and allow it to cool. Stirr in condensed milk and add remaining sugar. Blend in a mixie till the mixture becomes creamy. Transfer the mixture to a thick bottomed pan and keep stirring in low fire till it thickens. Add ghee and stir again till it gets a semisolid consistency.Reomove from fire and garnish with chopped cashewnuts, badam, and raisins.

Tips

It is better to use a teflon coated pan for thickening the mixture.

[minisoji]

Baked Rawa Halwa

Ingredients

Rawa (Sooji/Semolina) - 1 cup
Milk - 1/2 cup
Water - 1/2 cup
Curds - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Ghee (liquid) -2 tabs
Cashew nuts - 1 tabs
Raisins - 2 tabs
Cardamom powder - 1 tsp
Saffron - 1/4 tsp.

Preparation

Roast the rawa dry in a pan, till well roasted. Allow it to cool. Beat curds, sugar and ghee well in a vessel. Add rawa, water and milk. Mix well. Pour into a greased pie-dish. Decorate with cashewnuts, raisins, cardamom powder and saffron and bake in a moderate over for about half an hour till golden in colour. When mixed, the batter will look watery. After it is baked it becomes solid. This is an ideal sweet for diabetic and heart patients as the amount of sugar and ghee used is very little. You could double the quantity for a larger family. Baking time will be a few more minutes.

[minisoji]

Chocolate Bread Halwa

Ingredients

Bread – 4 slices
Milk – 1¼ cups, heated for 2 mins in the microwave
Sweetened Condensed milk – 3 tbsp
Sugar – 3 tbsp (more or less per taste)
Dark chocolate – 4 oz. chopped fine
Ghee (or butter) – 2 tbsp + 1 tsp
Cashews – 2 tbsp
Raisins – 2 tbsp
Elaichi – 1 tsp

Method

* Sauté cashews and raisins in 1 tsp ghee.
* Cut and discard the brown part on the bread and chop each slice into 4-6 bite size pieces. Heat the remaining 2 tbsp ghee on medium low flame, shallow fry the bread pieces till nice and golden. Remove and keep aside.
* Add both milk to the same pan. Add sugar; bring the mixture to a simmer on medium flame, mixing well till sugar dissolves.
* Add the chopped chocolate, elaichi and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
* Slowly add fried bread slices, mix well. Cook for another 5 minutes. Garnish with fried cashews and raisins (and little bit of shaved white chocolate).