Gajar ka Halwa - Carrot Pudding

I can feel the holiday fat creeping on me. My pants actually hurt, but I can't stop thinking of Indian sweets today. Gajar ka Halwa, a classic Indian dessert which I will only make once a year. There are no shortcuts for this dessert, it needs time, loving, and patience for it not to taste like mushy milky carrots. I really need to motivate myself for this effort and I will do it one winter weekend. Grating the carrots is the biggest pain , if I had someone else to do that for me , I would make halwa maybe twice a year.That is yet to happen...sigh. So when I do make this halwa, I make a lot of it. You can store it in the refrigerator for a week or two and just warm a little, everytime the urge kicks in.

Ingredients

5 lbs of carrots ( grate)
1 gallon of whole milk
1 tin of evaporated milk
2 1/4 cups of sugar
4 tbsp ghee
5 pods of cardomom
1 cup of almond slivers
1/2 cup of roasted unsalted cashewnuts
1/2 cup of raisins

Instuctions

1. Cook the grated carrots in a heavy botton pan or wok with 1/3 of the milk.The flame should be on medium.
2. Reduce the milk to half and add 1/3 of the balance milk. Repeat till you use up the milk and the consistency in the wok looks like the carrots are barely submerged in milk. Reduce the flame to low.
3. Add the evaporated milk. Keep reducing till the liquids evaporate. Remember to keep scraping so the halwa does not burn.
4. Add the sugar. Keep scraping.
5. Add the ghee, and roast till the halwa turns glossy and looks like a mashed orange mass. ( think mashed potatoes)
6. Add crushed cardomom seeds. Fold in the nuts and raisins.Serve warm or hot.

I seriously feel like renaming this halwa 'Trader Joe's' Halwa ...the reason being I found all ingredients at Trader Joe's today.
I used
2 - 10 oz packs of shredded carrots , 1-14 ounce tin of Trader Joe's sweetened condensed milk ( infact the sugar content is perfect,no need to add any more), half a galllon of whole milk, unsalted cashewnuts, and almond slivers.

The only ingredients that were not from Trader Joes were 2 tbspn of ghee and 3 pods of cardomom.

When your pudding looks like this you should add condensed milk. You don't have to add any sugar , the 14 oz tine has the perfect amount of sugar.

Pay a lot of attention to your halwa when you reach this stage. It might burn if you don't stop stirring.Scrape the sides of the pan for a creamier texture.