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    Home » By Ingredient » Vegetables » Carrots

    Published: Aug 8, 2011 · Modified: Mar 31, 2021 by Usha Rao

    Microwave Cooking - Carrot Halwa

    When growing up, whenever the vegetable market was flooded with carrots, my mom use to make carrot halwa. I remember it was a lengthy process; peeling the carrots, hand grating them, roasting the grated carrots in ghee (clarified butter) and then simmering it in milk until the milk is evaporated. The laborious process kept me away from this preparation until I came across this microwave version and Anu’s slow cooker preparation of the halwa.

    I made the microwave version 3 times in the last 3 weeks. I was skeptical of both the versions as the recipe I knew calls for roasting the grated carrots in ghee before simmering it in milk. I made it 3 weeks ago and I liked the result. I made it again 4-5 days later for a potluck party.  This time I made halwa with 3 lbs of carrots for a gathering of 15 people. Since I did not get to take pictures, I made it again couple days ago for the blog. If one was making it in large quantity, I would not recommend the microwave method as it took over an hour of microwave cooking to make halwa with 3 lbs. of carrot. Slow cooker method might be a good option.

    Carrot Halwa, Gajar Halwa

    Total Time: 37 – 40 minutes
    Preparation: 15 minutes
    Microwave Cooking: 22 - 25 minutes
    Serves:3-4Ingredients:

    • 1 lb. / 450 grams. Carrots or 2 cups firmly packed peeled & grated Carrots
    • 1 can Evaporated Milk
    • ⅔ cup Sugar (adjust to taste)
    • ¼ Cardamom Seeds crushed
    • 1 tbsp. Unsalted Butter
    • 6-8 Whole Cashews broken into pieces

    Preparation:

    • Peel the carrots and grate it. I hand grated it.
    • In a microwave safe bowl, take 1 tbsp. of butter and broken cashews and microwave it for 2 minutes or until the cashews are lightly roaster. First microwave it for 30 seconds, mix well so that the ghee coats the cashews and microwave it for another 1 ½ minutes. I did it for 2 minutes and my cashews turned brown.
    • In a big microwave safe bowl, take the carrots, add evaporated milk and microwave it for 10 minutes, mixing it in every 3-4 minutes.
    • Add sugar, cardamom powder, ghee and microwave it for another 20 – 25 minutes or until all the milk reduces. Mix it every 5 minutes to make sure the carrots are evenly cooked.
    • Garnish with cashews and serve it hot or chilled.

    Note:
    I used the following quantities and it tasted fine too.

    • 3 lbs. carrots or 6 ¾ cups firmly packed grated carrots
    • 3 cans evaporated milk (2 fat free and one regular)
    • 1 tsp. cardamom seeds
    • 1 ½ cups sugar
    • 1 can fat free condensed milk
    • 3 tbsp. butter

    Microwave carrots and evaporated milk for 20 minutes stirring every 5 minutes.
    Add sugar, cardamom and microwave for 5 minutes.
    Add Condensed milk & butter and cook until it solidifies stirring every 5 minutes. It took almost 50-60 minutes.

    This goes to Kalyani's My Mother's Kitchen: Indian Mithai Mela & Srivalli's MEC: Potluck Party.

    More Carrots

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      Gajar Methi Subzi ~ Carrot Fenugreek Stir Fry, Haryana
    • A bowl of gajar mooli koshimbir
      Carrot Radish Salad ~ Gajar Mooli Koshimbir
    • Instant Pot Carrot Sabudana kheer, Instant pot carrot tapioca pearl pudding, instant pot carrot sabudana payasam
      Instant Pot Carrot Sabudana Kheer ~ Tapioca Pudding

    Reader Interactions

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    1. MySpicyKitchen says

      August 17, 2011 at 8:34 am

      Thank you ladies for your lovely comments! and it did not require too much sweating near the stove.

      Reply
    2. priya mahadevan says

      August 12, 2011 at 7:33 am

      The halwa looks healthy and yum

      Reply
    3. Priya (Yallapantula) Mitharwal says

      August 11, 2011 at 1:11 pm

      Love how nice and creamy it looks, delicious 🙂

      Reply
    4. Vidhya Jayadeep says

      August 11, 2011 at 12:50 am

      Sounds pretty easy a dessert without much sweating over the cook top

      Reply
    5. Srivalli says

      August 10, 2011 at 3:03 am

      Great to know you made this in mw, it normally ends up pretty easy than the stove top. But then making it for large number is tough at times right..thanks for sending this to the party..:)

      Reply
    6. Sushma Mallya says

      August 09, 2011 at 10:55 am

      I love gajar ka halwa they look so delicious!

      Reply
    7. Spandana says

      August 09, 2011 at 6:01 am

      I love gajar halwa and this looks very delicious and healthy too...

      Reply

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