gajar halwa

[mongo_jones]

as winter in colorado approaches it become time for gajar halwa. of course in two months i'll be in delhi eating far superior versions of it than i could ever make but i'd like to take another stab at it. my mother's recipe is a little too cholesterol unconscious for my heart (though this may be a built in problem with the dish), and also it contains a number of short-cutty maneuvers that don't bother indian cooks in india but make people like me in the diaspora feel all inauthentic. so let all your gajar ka halwa recipes fly people!

[BBhasin]

Here we go Sir,

Off course a very authentic Gajjar Halwa you would need a LOT of milk add a little amount of grated carrots and boil it down to dry, add some desi ghee, bhunoo, add sugar, ground cardamon nuts raisins etc and bhunoo some more.

Here is the version we use. either cut down the recipe or just divide it into portions and freeze for later or give as gifts to friends.

Take one gallon of whole milk

add 5lbs of grated or ground carrots

boil and reduce to dry

add one cup ( less if you like) of desi ghee or larified butter

fry/cook or bhunoo for a while

add sugar to taste and cook some more, the color will change

take one 3lb tub of whole milk riccotta cheese in a microwaveable dish

microwave 30 minutes, stirring at 10 minute intervals

transfer to non stick pot, add tablespoon of oil or ghee and cook, stirring all the time, to reduce to khoya consistancy.

add this khoya to the carrots alongwith ground cardamom and golden fried cashews and raisins.

Mix well and cook a bit more.

The halwa will rival some of the best you will get in Delhi.

AND keep you warm & happy in Colorado or Delhi

[mongo_jones]

sounds good bhasin, and my arteries are clogging up just reading the recipe. anyone else have a (perhaps slightly less saturated by saturated fat) recipe?

[Episure]

Here we go again.

No Bhunoo!

FAT lot of good it's going to do to the grated and already cooked carrots and your lipid profile.

Instead release a small tad of Ghee on your plate at the table. Let it melt on top and transport your olfactory senses to another world far away.

Edited October 23, 2003 by Episure (log)

[mongo_jones]

so, what would your recipe be episure? just remove the step in which bhasin adds 5 heart-attacks worth of ldl?

i should track down my mother's recipe and post it too, so people can compare.

[BBhasin]

Here we go again.

No Bhunoo!

This is going to make you grind your teeth, Episure.

I just made some beef 65 using your chicken 65 reciepe and this punjabi bhunooed it and bhunooed it AND bhunooed it. Man, was it good!

Would you call it the difference between traditional and contemporary? or a stupid person who just won't listen?

Anyway, Happy Diwali.

[Episure]

Oye Punjabi Puttar! Tu kedhay pind da hai? Akela akela khai ja raha hai!

Sure I also use that kind of fat once in a while, not on a regular basis. To digest that kind of traditional usage I would have to work in the fields, draw water from the well, sow, water, deweed, harvest, thresh, pulverize my crops. Just exercising my biceps bhunoing is not sufficient to warrant these quantities of fat. These are not calories these are BTUs, you can run airconditioners on them.

Mongo_jones

Do the same as he says but add a much smaller amount of raw ghee before serving. Ghee when bhunaoed smells wonderful in the kitchen, my style smells even better at the table. If I was there I would do a blind test on Bhasin and would not be surprised if he couldn't make out the difference. But knowing him, he would probably make me slave and carry on the exercise till he extinguishes my repertoire.