What is Gajar Halwa?
Gajar halwa, also known as carrot halwa, is a beloved Indian dessert that captivates with its rich flavors and comforting warmth. Made from grated carrots slow-cooked in ghee (clarified butter) or coconut oil, it's infused with cardamom, cinnamon, and sometimes saffron for a fragrant touch. Sweetened condensed milk or coconut milk adds creaminess, while chopped nuts like almonds and pistachios provide a delightful crunch. The result is a luscious, melt-in-your-mouth treat that exudes the essence of traditional Indian sweets. Gajar halwa is often served warm, garnished with more nuts or a dollop of creamy vanilla ice cream, making it the perfect finale to any meal or festive occasion.
What does Gajar Halwa Taste Like?
Sweet is one of the five main tastes. It has smooth and round notes in its flavor profile. Sweet is a naturally occurring flavor in many foods, including fruits, berries, winter squashes, sugarcane, and honey. The sweet taste in these foods is due to a higher sugar content. Sweetness is characteristic of desserts and is used as an accent in savory foods.
Ingredients
Milk is almost always sourced come from cows. Sometimes sheep, goat, yak and water buffalo milk are used. In general, store bough milk comes from a cow, unless specified otherwise. Whole milk is white, or cream colored and has a higher fat content than skim milk and therefore a creamier and richer texture and flavor. The flavor is mild and bland with a hint of savory sweetness and is satisfying, especially due to its creaminess. Milk is served as a beverage and used in a multitude of dishes both sweet and savory.
Carrots are a root vegetable with feathery green tops and long tapered orange colored roots. Some carrot varieties are purple or yellow, but orange is the most common. The carrot can be up to a foot in length. It has a dense, woody texture that is nonetheless very chewable and non-fibrous. Its flavor is sweet and a bit earthy. Carrots are eaten raw, cooked and used in cuisines across the world.
Sugar comes from sugar cane and sugar beets. The sugar is extracted from the juice of both plants and refined into the granulated substance known as sugar. Sucrose, the sweet substance of sugar is a combination of glucose and fructose. White sugar is composed of tiny white, dry granules. The flavor is sweet and neutral. Brown sugar is brown and has more moisture, with a richer flavor that hints at molasses. Sugar is used in both sweet and savory foods.
Ghee is clarified butter in which the butter is cooked down and much of the milk solids are removed, in effect milk proteins and sugars are removed resulting in a lower content of lactose. Ghee can easily withstand high cooking temperatures. It is golden in color, hard when cold and soft when warm. It has a gentle nutty and buttery taste. Ghee adds a round quality to any dish, and a richness and depth of flavor. It is used as a cooking fat or like butter, but also as flavoring.
Raisins are made from dried grapes. Usually they are made from red grapes and occasionally they are made from green grapes. Raisins are small and roughly the size of a cooked black bean. They are wrinkly and dark purple with a shiny exterior. The texture is chewy, sticky and soft. The flavor is sweet and fruity. Raisins pair well with sweet and savory foods.
Cashews are harvested from the cashew fruit. These nuts are actually in the seeds category. Cashews are a cream color with a curved, oblong body that is about half an inch in length. They are dense and hard, yet have a softness to their texture that is almost creamy. The flavor is mild, buttery and unique from any other nut. Cashews are popular in nut mixes, Indian dishes and as a dairy substitute, because of the creamy quality when blended with liquids.
The almond tree was first cultivated in the Middle East and has since become a crop grown in climates similar to the Mediterranean, around the world. The almond is covered by a hard shell that must be removed before eating. The almond is between 3.5 and 6 centimeter and in an oblong shape with a pointed top. It's skin is brown and ridged. It's meat is white with a dense hardness. It has a mild flavor that is occasionally bitter. Almonds are used in many dishes, from desserts to savory dishes, or eaten as is, coated in salt, sugar, chocolate or any other number of ingredients.
True cardamom, also called green cardamom is a spice used in many Indian dishes and other cuisines. The seeds, which the spice is ground from, grow in a small green pod, roughly the size of an oblong blueberry with pointed ends. The pod has a hard shell, with small pinhead-sized seeds inside, that are dark or light brown. The flavor is almost minty, herbal, spicy and sweet. A little goes a long way in any dish. For some dishes the whole pod is used as a flavoring.
