Gajar ka halwa

Sometime ago, I visited my aunt and uncle who live close to where I do….my aunt wasn’t keeping well and had undergone some surgery…..i visited with some food to save them the cooking of a couple of meals….the surgery was unexpected and they had a fridge full of vegetables that they were in no mood to cook, and so when I returned home, half of the stuff from their vegetable tray was in a bag I was carrying back!!

What does one do with almost two kilos of carrots?? Make gajar ka halwa of course…..this is the first time I have made this….always was lucky enough to have a friend or neighbor send me a share….P, who gave me the recipe to make chole was the one who kept me regularly supplied with it! and I remember her telling me that all one had to do was cook the grated carrots in milk till it was almost dry and then add the sugar and elaichi…..well too good to be true eh?? But that’s exactly what I did and ended up with this!! I have a terrible sweet tooth, but cannot eat cloyingly sweet stuff….preferring sweets that are mildly sweetened….i don’t see myself making this unless I have a food processor or someone else to grate the carrots, my arm ached and didn’t allow me to forget that it grated a tone of carrots till I rubbed it down with my cure for all aches, balm!! We enjoyed it warm and then straight from the fridge for as long as it lasted

Gajar ka halwa (makes about 8 servings)

6 c grated fresh carrot

½ litre milk (I used low fat)

4 T sugar

1 T ghee

2 T raisins and cashews

3 green cardamoms

In a microwave safe bowl, add the milk and grated carrots and cook on high for 8-10 minutes. Place the cooked carrot mixture in a non stick pan or kadai and simmer on low heat till the liquid is almost dry. Powder the sugar and cardamoms in a blender and add it to the cooked carrots, mix well to incorporate. Taste and check for sweetness, adding more sugar if you would like. In another small vessel, heat the ghee and fry the raisins and cashews till light golden and add to the cooked carrot mixture. Enjoy warm or cold according to preference.

life’s back to normal…and the jahangiri recipe as promised

Just as I desperately wanted the nightmare to end….it did…. Amma got better….i got the better of all the chocolate orders…. K missed me so much he’s imposed strict working hours so we can spend more time at home…… can a girl ask for anything more?? Just seeing amma back to her normal self sent my spirits (err…no not the liquid kind) soaring….. She’s back in Bangalore and regales me with tales of her granddaughter….what they’ve been up to and all the “tricks” she’s been showing her grand mother….. Especially how she can expertly hunt for chappals and put them into her mouth!! I sent a big batch of my handmade chocolates and my brother thought they were worthy of their own brand and told me that I needed to think seriously about doing something on a permanent basis…. I believe the latest fan of my chocolates is my 10 month old niece who has been walloping them with glee……..I sure like to see her in the act…possibly take some pictures and make her my poster girl??

So now that the pieces of my mind have reached a state of normalcy and hopefully peace of mind, I spent the first hour of the morning trawling all my favourite blogs and lapping up the stuff on show….i also finally get to post the recipe for jahangiri’s ……

This recipe is from amma’s close friends….. it is a sister duo living in Chennai…. A couple of the most interesting people one can come across in life…..they’re so full of joie de vivre… show the world how a full and interesting life is led …both in their 80’s they still pursue their intellectual callings…having achieved the highest success and recognition in their chosen fields, are busy with assignments…and are testimony to the adage “a healthy mind in a healthy body” ……… the fact that they have a jahangiri recipe is testament to what they extract from life!!

just jahangiri’s

i thought of putting out a well researched post on one of my favourite indian sweets….the jangiri or jahangiri as we call it on our side of the world….but with things going haywire at this time…i have to defer it to another time……

i made this for K a few weeks ago…. the recipe will be posted soon…. amma’s friend / professor of 48 years parted with her recipe to indulge both me and K!!

and no i havent dropped off the Earth…. have been swamped with chocolate making orders for diwali since this is the peak season….and amma was down with a bad viral…so have been playing nursemaid too…. and that K has buried his nose in 16 hours of work each day just adds to my woes!! the only thing that give me comfort is the picture of the jahangiri’s i have left…..the sweets of course vanished from the plate….