Gajar Halwa Carrot Pudding
I’ve been meaning to share this recipe for forever and kept forgetting! I love Indian food. It’s probably my favorite ethnic food (well, maybe it’s tied for first with Mexican). I also made a new chicken dish called Murgh Makhani over the weekend that I’ll share with you all sometime this week. I grew up eating a huge variety of food. My mom is a fabulous cook and gets bored easily so we rarely ate the same thing twice in one month! Dishes from far away places like Italy, Spain, Germany, India, China, Kenya, or Japan showed up at our kitchen table regularly! I was home schooled and my mom would make dishes from whatever new country we might be studying about. We would even host International nights with friends where everyone had to bring a dish from a different country!
This recipe is a vegan carrot pudding that is also grain-free, dairy-free (hence the vegan!), and refined sugar free. It takes about 1/2 hour to make but I’ve also been wanting to adapt it for instant-pot as I know many of you LOVE your instant pots and are always on the lookout for new dishes to try! I’ll definitely update you when I’ve had a chance to run through it! This dessert is mainly sweetened with coconut milk with just a touch of honey (or maple syrup if you’d prefer!). It’s so creamy and super easy to throw together. It can be eaten cold or hot (I prefer it warm) and it’s a great end to any meal! It’s very unique and I’ve never had anything like it outside of an Indian restaurant. I guess you could say it’s the essences of carrot cake (with carrots, raisins, and coconut combined) cooked into a pudding similar to tapioca. It’s so fragrant and delicious, your family will think you’ve spent hours crafting this simple dessert!
- 1 C almond milk
- 1 12-oz can coconut cream (I used Trader Joe's organic)
- 4-5 large carrots- yields about 3 cups shredded
- 1/4 cup raisens
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground clove
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 T honey (or maple syrup)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 T coconut butter or ghee (I used Fourth & Heart's Vanilla ghee)
- Peel carrots and shred finely.
- Over medium heat, heat almond milk and coconut cream to a light simmer. Watch carefully as milk tends to boil over easily!
- Add carrots to milk and stir to combine. Simmer over medium-low heat for 20 minutes until mixture has reduced and thickened and carrots are tender.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for an additional 10 minutes.
- Remove from heat and garnish with shredded coconut, if desired. Serve warm.
- I added about 1 T cassava flour to thicken the pudding as it was a bit runnier than I wanted. Feel free to do the same if you like a thicker pudding!