Gajar Halwa – Indian Carrot Dessert – Carrot Halwa

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!

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

Is Gajar Halwa Gluten-free?

Yes, this Gajar Halwa recipe is gluten-free.

Other Indian Dessert Recipes You Might Like

• White pumpkin aka Bottle Gourd Dessert
• Naralchi Wadi, a Konkan Coconut Dessert
• Moong Dal Halwa | Indian Mung Bean Dessert
• Delicious Apple Halwa | सेब का हलवा | Seb Ka Halwa
• Kele Ki Barfi – Indian Ripe Banana Dessert