Sweet, inviting, and made for sharing, Gajar Ka Halwa (Traditional Carrot Halwa Recipe) is a gluten-free, vegetarian North Indian, Punjabi desserts, sweets made with simple everyday ingredients in about 70 minutes. The recipe lays out the ingredients and each cooking step clearly, so you can adjust seasoning, texture, and serving size for your own kitchen.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 10 minutes
  • Cook time: 60 minutes
  • Total time: 70 minutes
  • Yield: 6
  • Category: Desserts, Sweets
  • Cuisine: North Indian, Punjabi

Ingredients

  • 8 to 9 carrots (medium, juicy, tender - 650 grams or about 4 to 4.5 cups grated carrots)
  • 4 cups whole milk (or full fat organic milk)
  • 4 tablespoons ghee ((clarified butter))
  • 10 to 12 tablespoons sugar (or raw sugar - 180 to 190 grams - add as required)
  • ½ to 1 teaspoon cardamom powder (or 5 to 6 green cardamoms powdered finely in a mortar-pestle)
  • 10 to 12 cashews (- chopped)
  • 10 to 12 almonds (- sliced or chopped)
  • 2 tablespoons golden raisins
  • 1 pinch saffron strands (- optional)

Method

Preparation

  1. First rinse, peel and then grate the carrots (8-9 medium sized tender juicy carrots), either with a hand held grater or in a food processor.
  2. You need approx 4 to 4.5 cups grated carrots.

Making carrot halwa

  1. In a kadai or deep thick bottomed pan combine milk and grated carrots.
  2. On a low to medium flame, bring the whole mixture to a boil and then simmer.
  3. While the mixture is simmering on a low flame, keep on stirring in between.
  4. The grated carrots will cook in the milk and the milk will start to reduce and evaporate.
  5. When the milk has 75% reduced, add the ghee, sugar and powdered cardamom to the mixture.
  6. Stir well and continue to simmer and cook on a low flame.
  7. Do keep on stirring the halwa in between.
  8. Towards the end, add the cashews, almonds, saffron and raisins. Simmer the halwa till all the milk is evaporated. Switch off the burner.
  9. Serve gajar halwa hot, warm or you can also serve it cold. garnish with some chopped dry fruits while serving.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.