Carrot Kheer

As I was thinking of dishes to make with carrots, I realized that carrots are probably one of the very few vegetables that I eat in a dessert. I've seen a number of other vegetables being made into desserts like halwas with bottle gourd, green peas, etc, but I've never made them myself. May I should give them a try in the near future.

I've mentioned before that I consider myself a lazy cook. I tend to make dishes that don't take too much time and don't involve too much preparation or cooking time. I like carrot/ gajar halwa, but grating carrots is not something that I really enjoy, so I use the food processor to grate them. Growing up, my sister was the designated carrot grater for making carrot halwa.

For today's carrot kheer, my mom grated the carrot for me (I guess my laziness is here to stay with me). I added some semolina/ sooji to give the kheer some body and thickness.

Ingredients:

Carrots - 1 cup, grated

Semolina/ Sooji (fine) - 2tbsp

Sugar - ¼cup
Ground Cardamom (elaichi) - 1tsp
Milk - 1cup (I used 1% milk)
Evaporated milk - 1½cup
Cashews/ Almonds - 3tbsp
Raisins - 1tbsp

Method:

• Heat 1tbsp ghee in a medium saute pan; fry cashews/ almonds and raisins until golden. Remove and keep aside.
• Add another 1tbsp ghee to the same pan and add carrots and sooji. Cook them stirring constantly until carrots are slightly cooked, about 4-5 minutes.
• Next add the milk, cover and cook on low flame until carrots are cooked through.
• Add sugar and cook the mixture until it starts to thicken a little bit.
• Finally add the ground cardamom and fried cashews and raisins.

This can be served hot, cold or at room temperature. Simple and delicious.

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked up for BM# 23.