Gajar Halwa – Indian Carrot Dessert – Carrot Halwa

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Gajar Halwa is a delicious Indian sweet dish made with fresh carrots. Eaten hot or cold, this mouth-watering dessert will keep you coming back for seconds!


Gajar ka Halwa is a traditional North Indian sweet dish made of freshly grated carrots. Often made during the winter season, this delightful treat leaves you feeling full, warm, and satisfied. Carrot Halwa, Gajar Pak, Gajrela, or Gajar ka Halwa, Red Carrot Halwa, whatever name you call it, it’s still as delicious as ever, and one of our favorite comfort foods! It’s also the perfect compliment to spicy meals, be it a traditional vindaloo or murgh methi chicken, or even some Guatemalan enchiladas.

Growing up, in most Indian households, you’re used to eating carrot halwa or the other kind of halwas for dessert quite often. Just like moong dal halwa, bottle gourd halwa, pumpkin halwa, or even sojee halwa, gajar halwa is one of our favorites, and it is so easy to make. Yes, we have a lot of favorites. With so many delicious desserts, it’s difficult to choose just one!

By the way, did you know ‘Halwa’ comes from the Arabic word ‘Hulw’ which means ‘sweet’? The word made its way to India via Persia centuries ago.

Most often, carrot halwa is made using milk, malai (cream), or mawa, but our recipe does not include this. We prefer milkless carrot halwa, as we are not big fans of milk, just like our sojee halwa or Doodhi Halwa. Plus, without the milk, this vegetarian carrot dessert is not as heavy, and without the cream or mawa, it’s not as rich. So we have an excuse to eat it more often.

If you’re ready to try our milk-free gajar halwa recipe or rather guilt-free carrot dessert, here goes!

What Ingredients Do You Need For Gajar Halwa?

All you need for this carrot halwa recipe is carrots, ghee, sugar, raisins, and cardamom. Cashews or almonds as toppings!

How To Make Indian carrot Sweet Dish?

Once your carrots are peeled and rinsed, grate the carrots. You can use a hand grater or the mixer-grinder whichever you prefer.

Fresh red carrot.
Carrots
Grate the carrots finely.
Grate the carrots

Remove the stems and any dirt from the raisins and set them aside to be used later. Just FYI, we say dirt, because in India you can get raisins with sand lodged in them because of where they’ve been dried. This is the last ingredient you add to the carrot halwa.

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Add raisins.
Raisins

Heat the ghee in a vessel and when it melts add the grated carrots. Stir well and cook on a medium flame. You will notice that as the carrot heats up it will release water and reduce in size.

In a vessel pour 2 tbs ghee.
Ghee
Melt the ghee.
Melted ghee
Add the grated carrots to the melted ghee.
Add the grated carrots

Once you see the water from the carrots, add the sugar and mix well. It will get syrupy. Allow the carrots to cook in this syrup until it’s quite dry.

Add sugar to the grated carrots and mix.
Add sugar

Crush a few pods of cardamom and add to the sugar. As you can see, we’ve used the cardamom skins as well, since they have a lot of flavor. If you’re worried about what people will think or if you’re having guests over, you can remove the skins and just throw them into your box of tea leaves. We do that too sometimes!

Take 6 cardamom pods and crush it into powder.
Cardamom pods
Add crushed cardamom to the sugar and carrot mix.
Crushed cardamom

When it’s nearly done, add the raisins and stir for a few minutes and your tasty Indian gajar ka kalwa dessert is ready. Serve in a bowl garnished with almond slivers or whole cashewnuts.

Indian carrot dessert with grated almonds on top.
Serve carrot halwa with cashews.
Top with cashew and serve Gajar Halwa.

You can also pistachios or other nuts as a garnish. Remember to comment below and let us know how it turned out!

Recipe Pointers For Gajar ka Halwa

  • Make sure you remove the stems and any grit from the raisins.
  • If you don’t have ghee, use any other clarified butter.
  • You can add cream, milk powder, mawa (Indian dried milk), milk, or even condensed milk for a richer dessert.
  • Using jaggery instead of sugar makes it less sweet, but the taste is quite different.
  • Tastes best after some spicy Indian dal, or fish vindaloo curry, or mustard chicken in red wine.
  • Serve hot or serve cold! It’s perfect either way!
  • Serve hot gajar halwa with vanilla ice cream or kulfi!

Your Questions About Carrot Halwa

Which Carrots are good for making halwa?

Always use young, juicy, and tender fresh carrots to make carrot halwa. We prefer to use the red carrots that are available during the winter season. Try not to use the thick orange carrots or English carrots as they’re called.

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How long can Gajar ka Halwa be stored?

Gajar Ka Halwa can be stored in the refrigerator in an air-tight container for about 2 – 3 weeks and in the freezer for as far as 6 months.

Is Gajar Halwa Vegan?

Our Gajar Ka Halwa recipe above is not vegan as we are using ghee. However, to make the vegetarian gajar halwa vegan, you can replace the ghee with coconut or vegetable oil.

If you want our traditional East Indian recipes on hand, the Abby's Plate Cookbook Series books are available online or in-store in most countries.

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Is Gajar Halwa Gluten-free?

Yes, this Gajar Halwa recipe is gluten-free.

Other Indian Dessert Recipes You Might Like

Indian carrot dessert with grated almonds on top.

Homemade Gajar Halwa

Abby
Gajar Halwa is a delicious Indian sweet dish of carrots. Eaten hot or cold, this mouth-watering dessert will keep you coming back for seconds!
5 out of 5 Stars by 2 readers!

Click the stars to add your rating! Left you don’t like it, right you love it!

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine Indian
Servings 6 Servings
Calories 217 kcal
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Gluten free icon on Abbysplate website.
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Ingredients
  

  • 500 Grams Carrots
  • 4 Tablespoon Ghee (Indian clarified butter)
  • 100 Grams Sugar
  • 6 Green Cardamon Pods (Choti Elaichi)
  • 50 Grams Raisins

To Garnish

  • 8 Almonds
  • 12 Cashewnuts

Instructions
 

  • Grate all the carrots using a grater.
  • Heat ghee in a vessel and when it has melted, add the grated carrots and allow to cook.
  • Cook on a medium flame, the carrots will start to release water.
  • Now add the sugar, mix and allow to cook. Stir occasionally so that it doens't stick to the bottom of the pot.
  • While the carrots are cooking, crush the cardamoms, and remove the stems from the raisins and set them aside.
  • Once the carrots are quite dry, add the ground cardamoms and raisins, and mix well. Once it's reached a reasonable amount of dryness, turn off the stove. (Approx 15 minutes from the start.)
  • Sprinkle with almond flakes or broken cashews and serve hot!
  • Or refrigerate and serve cold! Gajar ka halwa is versatile and always tastes great – hot or cold!

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Notes

  • Grate the carrots and grind the cardamoms before you start cooking.
  • Remove the stems and any grit from the raisins before cooking.
  • You can add cream or milk for a richer dessert.
  • Hot carrot halwa goes perfectly with white vanilla ice cream!
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Nutrition (Per Serving)

Calories: 217kcal | Carbohydrates: 32g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 26mg | Sodium: 61mg | Potassium: 358mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 21g | Vitamin A: 13922IU | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 38mg | Iron: 1mg

Disclaimer: Nutrition Information per serving is estimated by a third party software based on the ingredients used, and is for informational purposes only. It will vary from product to product, based on methods of preparation, origin and freshness of ingredients. Please consult the package labels of the ingredients you use, or chat with your dietician for specific details.

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Pinterest images of crushed cardamom, sugar and carrot mix and ready Gajar halwa.
Pinterest images of grated carrots, raisins and ready Gajar Halwa.
Pinterest image of Indian carrot dessert with grated almonds on top.
Pinterest image of gajar-halwa Indian carrot dessert.

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