Instant Pot Carrot Halwa
This Indian style delicious carrot pudding (carrot halwa/gajar halwa) is made with fresh carrots, milk, milk powder (or mawa) and sugar and flavored with cardamom powder nuts and ghee. Usually, this halwa is prepared during the winter season when fresh red carrots are easily available. In traditional method of carrot halwa, carrots and milk are slow cooked in a pan with lots of stirring to make the halwa but it takes less time when it is prepared using an instant pot or a pressure cooker (on stove top).
| Ingredients: |
| 4 cups grated Red Carrots or Orange Carrots (gajar) |
| 1 Cup Whole Milk or Almond Milk (for Vegan) |
| 1/2 cup Sugar (or 2 tablespoons less) |
| 3 tablespoons Chopped Nuts (Cashews, Almonds, Pistachios) |
| 10-15 Raisins, optional |
| 2 tablespoons Ghee (clarified butter) |
| 1/2 cup Milk Powder or Plain Mawa (khoya) or Almond Flour/Meal (for vegan) |
| 1/4 teaspoon Cardamom Powder |
Directions For Instant Pot:
- Wash the carrots and peel them. Grate them using a hand grater or a food processor or a vegetable chopper (if you use the chopper, the texture will be a little bit different).
- Take an instant pot and add 4 cups grated carrot and 1 cup milk.
- Close the pot with a lid and set the pressure valve in sealing mode. Press the pressure cook button, set high-pressure mode, and cook for 2 minutes. Do a quick pressure release and remove the lid. Stir the carrot and milk mixture.
- Press the Sauté button. Add 1/2 cup sugar (add 2 tablespoons less to make it less sweet), 3 tablespoons chopped nuts (cashews, almonds, pistachios) and 10-15 raisins.
- Mix well. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring every few seconds to prevent it from burning.
- Add 2 tablespoons ghee. Stir and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add 1/2 cup milk powder or plain mawa or almond flour (for vegan) and 1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder.
- Stir and cook until almost liquid is absorbed and halwa turns thick, it will take approx.5-7 minutes.
- Halwa is ready. It will thicken as it cools down. Transfer it to a serving bowl and garnish with sliced pistachio. Serve carrot halwa warm or chilled.
- For Stovetop method, follow the same process as given above for the instant pot (except for step-3). In step-3, cook the carrot and milk mixture in a pressure cooker for 1 whistle over medium flame and then release the pressure immediately.
- Follow the same recipe as given above. Use same amount of almond milk (or oats milk) instead of whole milk, same amount of almond meal/flour instead of milk powder and 1 tablespoon coconut oil instead of 2 tablespoons ghee (or just skip adding coconut oil) to make it vegan.
Tips and Variations:
- Halwa made with red carrots tastes best but if they are not available, you can use orange carrots as well.
- To speed up the process, use a food processor or a vegetable chopper instead of grating the carrots using a hand grater.
- If you like mild sweet taste, add 2 tablespoons less sugar.
Taste: Sweet
Serving Ideas: Serve carrot halwa as a dessert in lunch or dinner.