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Gaajar ka Halwa (Carrot Pudding)

November 24, 2011 in Desserts, Recipes

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

How about indianizing thanksgiving this year!!! We have been invited to Thanksgiving dinner at a friend’s place and after much thought, I decided to carry gaajar ka halwa – lighter version, to the dinner. Thanksgiving dinners are oh so heavy, so why add another dish which would make it even more heavy! So this gaajar ka halwa is actually lighter and less heavy compared to the traditional gaajar ka halwa that I am used to making / eating. I used butter instead of ghee and used part skim milk ricotta cheese instead of khoya. And it turned out to be just perfect. This dish does take a while to make, but it’s mostly the cooking time of the carrots. Once the carrot is cooked, it is pretty much done. It also does not have a long list of ingredients, just half a dozen ingredients. It took me about an hour to make the dish from start to finish. But this was for a larger crowd, if you make it in a smaller quantity, it will not take that long to cook the carrots and therefore will not take as long to make. Also remember to use a thick bottomed pan or a double pan while making this dish, so that it does not burn and stick to the pan. Well that’s a note for whenever you are making any indian dessert with milk which involves cooking something on the stove-top for a long time.

Ingredients:

  1. 24 ounces shredded carrot (I used my food processor to shred the carrots)
  2. 16-24  ounces milk (I used 1% milk)
  3. 1, 2″ stick cinnamon
  4. 2.5 tbsp ricotta cheese / khoya
  5. 2-4 ounces sugar (you add more or less depending on how sweet the carrots are)
  6. 1 oz slivered almonds (without skin)
  7. 1 oz raw cashews
  8. 1.5 teaspoon cardamom powder
  9. 4 tbsp + 1 tbsp butter

Directions:

  • Heat the milk in a thick bottomed pan and add the cinnamon to it. Once the milk is hot, add the carrots and cook till the carrots are cooked through. You don’t want the carrots to get all mushy, just cooked well.
  • If the milk is not completely absorbed by the time the carrots are cooked, drain the milk out once the carrots are cooked.
  • Now add the ricotta cheese or khoya to the carrots and mix thoroughly.
  • Next add the 4 tbsp butter to the pan and add the carrots to the pan. Fry it for a couple of minutes.
  • Now add 2 oz  sugar and mix thoroughly. Add more sugar if required.
  • In another pan heat the rest of the butter and add the almonds and cashews. Fry for a couple of minutes till, a few of the nuts start turning a light brown.
  • Transfer the almonds and cashews to the carrots and mix thoroughly.
  • Add the cardamom powder  and let the mixture cook on a medium flame for about 10-15 mins. This ensures that all the flavors blend together.
  • Stir the mixture occasionally to ensure that it does not stick to the bottom of the pan and burn.
  • Serve either hot or cold. If it is served hot, an option is to serve it with plain vanilla ice cream.

This recipe would make about 8-10 servings. Hope you enjoyed this recipe and thanks for reading. And Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!

Shilpa

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Vegetable Stew

April 16, 2011 in Main Course

Vishu Aashamsagal! (Happy New Year…)

As I mentioned in my post a few days back, I celebrate the New year three times a year! And this is the third one in the year – Vishu. So Happy Vishu to everyone. We celebrated Vishu yesterday (15th April). So this is how we celebrate Vishu at home. The night before, Mom sets up the Vishu kanni. It has a plethora of things spread out for you to wake up to and see the first thing in the morning. There are fruits, grains, vegetables, yellow flowers, mirror, lamps, clothes, jewellery, etc.

I prepared everything the night before and was up before sunrise around 5:00 am – 5:15 am. I lit the lamps and candles and woke up Amit and asked him not to open his eyes till I told him to. At home Mom used to do the waking up everyone part. And then the best part of Vishu, everyone gets money from the head of the household. As kids, you can imagine how exciting that part used to be. Oh yes and then the firecrackers early in the morning. When we lived in Bombay, we never did that but in Kerala that’s how it is celebrated. You burst firecrackers to ring in the new year.

And then of course there was a delicious spread of food for lunch. Since I am in a bit of a time crunch with the whole proposal defense thing, I decided to go with appam and stew for dinner and pradavan for dessert. The stew is one of the easiest dishes I have made and it’s so delicious. And it is so versatile because you could make a vegetable stew like I did, or you could switch the vegetables with chicken, mutton or fish. This stew goes best with appams or palappam like they are called. The appam recipe is for another post. Today I will be blogging about the vegetable stew. This is a very easy recipe with a few ingredients and it takes about 30 mins to make. And this recipe serves about 2-3 persons.

Ingredients:

  1. 2 potatoes (chopped into 1/2″ cubes)
  2. 1 medium carrot (same size as the potato)
  3. 1 small onion (thinly sliced)
  4. 2 garlic cloves (crushed)
  5. 1/2″ ginger (crushed)
  6. 2-3 green chillies (slit lengthwise) (to taste)
  7. 1 sprig curry leaves
  8. 3 cloves
  9. 1″ piece of cinnamon
  10. 2-3 bay leaves
  11. 4-5 whole black pepper
  12. 1 teaspoon coriander powder
  13. 1/2 – 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper powder
  14. 1 can coconut milk
  15. 1 teaspoon oil
  16. salt to taste

Method:

  • Heat the oil in a saucepan.
  • Then add the whole spices and fry for a minute.
  • Add the onions and fry for s couple of minutes.
  • Next add the ginger, garlic and curry leaves and fry the mixture till the onions are light brown.
  • Now add the coriander powder.
  • Next add the potatoes and carrots and mix till the onion mixture and vegetables are completely mixed.
  • Mix half the can of coconut milk with about a can of water and set it aside. Next add the salt and black pepper to the vegetable mixture. Add this coconut milk to the saucepan and let the vegetables cook completely.
  • Once the vegetables are cooked add about 1/4 cup of coconut milk and let it come to a simmer. Do not boil the stew once you add the coconut milk.


I served the stew hot with appams which Amit actually made. And yes Happy Vishu once again… Hope you enjoy the appam and stew as much as we loved it. And I will be trying to make the appam at home from scratch and posting that soon. And oh yeah, the pradavan recipe too.  So here’s to an awesome new year!

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Carrot Soup with fresh Coriander and Parsley

October 12, 2010 in Carrot, Recipes, Soups

A Healthy and Wholesome soup…

After the not so healthy but awesome chicken wings last night, we needed something a little lighter for our dinner tonight. Our stomachs were definitely ready for a hearty and healthy soup. So this is what I came up with. A carrot soup with some fresh coriander and parsley. I am not a very big fan of large chunks of vegetables in my soup. I love my creamy soups. Since I wanted to use only vegetables in the soup and also make it creamy, I decided to use potatoes. This recipe serves 4 persons.

Ingredients:

  1. 4 medium carrots, cut into chunks
  2. 2 medium potatoes, cut into chunks
  3. 1/2 onion, chopped
  4. 1 tomato, chopped
  5. 2 garlic cloves, sliced
  6. 1 bay leaf
  7. 2 cups vegetable / chicken stock
  8. 1/2 cup freshly chopped parsley
  9. 1/2 freshly chopped coriander
  10. 1/2 tbsp olive oil
  11. Salt to taste
  12. 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper (to taste)

Directions:

  • Heat the olive oil in a saucepan.
  • Fry the bay leaf till it turns a light brown.
  • Add the garlic and onion and fry till it softens.
  • Add the chopped tomatoes and cook 3-5 minutes.
  • Add 3 cups of water and the chopped carrots and potato into the saucepan.
  • Simmer, covered, for 15 minutes or until the vegetables are almost tender.
  • Add the parsley, coriander and the chicken / vegetable stock and simmer till the vegetables are cooked completely.
  • Discard the bay leaf and puree the soup in a blender.
  • Add salt and pepper to taste.
  • Serve with some sour cream, cream and croutons.

This recipe takes about 45 minutes from start to finish. I heat the soup just before serving as I cool it a little before pureeing it. I usually serve the soup with salad. Next time I am going to try making some bread-sticks to go with the soup and salad. Hope you enjoy this soup.

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