Mumbai is hardly known for its winters but on the few days that it is cold, there is nothing like a warm Gajjar Halwa to round off a perfect meal

This morning I found a kilo of juicy red carrots in my refrigerator so I decided to make them into a sweet halwa. These carrots are commonly called Delhi carrots simply because they are grown in North India and at this time of year our markets are flooded with this variety. Sweet to taste, crunchy and juicy they make the best halwa. 

So what you need is

3/4 cup or 100 g of pure desi ghee.

3-4 green cardamoms peeled and the seeds coarsely pounded

8 heaped or 1000 g of grated carrot

3/4 cup or 250 g grain sugar

1 cup water

3-4 green cardamoms peeled and the seeds coarsely pounded

4 strands of saffron

2 tbspn almond slivers

All you have to do is heat the ghee in a heavy bottomed pan

Add the coarsely pounded cardamom and fry for a bit

Then put in the grated carrot and stir. Lower the heat , cover the pan and allow the carrot to cook till semi done.

In the meanwhile make a thin one thread consistency syrup of the sugar, water, cardamom and saffron.

When the carrots are semi cooked, add the syrup and continue cooking till the carrots have a nice shiny glaze and most of the water is cooked down.

Take off heat and sprinkle the almond slivers. 

Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream and just wait for the compliments to flow!