Gajar Halwa is a traditional Indian dessert wherein the carrots are slow-cooked in milk and then sugar. Today sharing a shortcut with you all using Instant Pot without actually losing the taste or flavour profile.
Start melting 3 tbsp of ghee in the Instant Pot using the Saute mode.
Once the display reads HOT, add in the cashew nuts and roast until golden brown. Take it out and set aside. (If you like raisins you can roast them until plump at this stage and keep that aside too.)
Add in the grated carrots and saute them for 2-3 minutes until they turn a little soft.
Next in goes the milk and condensed milk. Stir and bring it to a boil. Do keep stirring in between to avoid burning of carrots as well as milk sticking to the base of the pot.
Once it starts boiling. Cancel the saute mode. Put the lid on. Vent to sealing position. Using manual or pressure cook mode set the time to 3 mins.
Allow 2 mins of NPR and do a quick release. Once the pin drops immediately open the lid and stir everything. You would still see some liquid do not worry just stir for another 4-5 mins and the carrots would absorb all of it and begin to thicken.
At this stage add the cardamom powder and the roasted cashew nuts. Reserve some nuts for garnishing if you like. Give a final stir. And just before switching it off add the remaining 2 tbsp of ghee and stir them too.
Your delicious gajar ka halwa is ready.
How to make Gajar ka Halwa in pressure cooker.
All the steps remain the same.
Instead of Saute mode just keep the cooker on medium flame.
For Cooking Time: Give 1 whistle on medium flame, after which lower the flame to low and cook for additional 2-3 mins. Switch off the gas and allow it to release pressure naturally.
How to make Gajar ka Halwa Shots
Like mentioned you can serve the halwa warm or hot along with vanilla ice-cream in a bowl.
For the shots, make sure to cool the halwa before assembling.
Coat the brim of your shot glasses with some ghee and dunk it in coarsely ground pistachios and dried rose petals.
I used a piping bag to fill the glasses with halwa to 3/4 of its size and topped it with softly whipped cream. Garnish with some chopped pistachios, rose petals, saffron and edible silver foil.
Notes
This recipe is perfectly sweetened enough for us. You can always do a taste test once you open the lid and add more condensed milk if you feel the need to.
Three key things to remember is that - do not cut down on ghee, use full fat milk and grated carrots.
Do stir the carrots every now and then to avoid the chances of it sticking to the base and burning eventually.
I have flavoured the whipped cream with rabdi essence like we did in our Gulab Jamun Cake. However you can use plain vanilla essence too.
In place of condensed milk you can use sugar but you will have to add it once you pressure cook the carrots. So a time consuming step as open the lid after pressure cooking, add the sugar - wait for it to melt and thicken again.
If you want to add khoya add it along with the cardamom powder and cashewnuts and stir. Milk powder or almond meal can also be used instead of khoya.
The whipped cream used to top the jars is: simple dairy whipping cream and sugar that is whipped to soft peaks. You can also use the store bought cool whip or readymade whipping cream to top it off which I had done while making it for a potluck party.
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