Hi Friends,

I’m really excited to write my 200th post. Its been 10 months since I started my blog. I’m very happy that I shared and posted almost 200 recipes. Thanks for the comments, support and appreciation as I continue traveling in my culinary journey. Thank you everyone 🙂 🙂

Gayathri Ramanan

Carrot Halwa / Gajar Ka Halwa is a traditional Punjabi dessert made with carrot, milk, ghee and sugar. This rich and colorful dessert is getting popular worldwide, also you can see this in Indian restaurant menu card. This is very quick to make dessert using microwave. You can also make this  in stove top or pressure cooker. Addition of ghee and nuts makes the dessert more rich and delicious. The cardamom gives good aroma and a flavor to the dish. You can make this halwa for any special occasion. Serve this halwa with ice cream on top. Try this recipe and enjoy 🙂 🙂

Ingredients

• 2 Carrots, Large (1 and 1/4 Cup)
• 1 Cup of 2% Milk
• 6 Tbsp of White Sugar
• 2 -3 Tbsp of Ghee (Clarified Butter)
• 2 Cardamom Pods
• Handful of Roasted Cashew Nuts

Method

• Wash, peel and grate the carrots, I got 1 Cup of Grated carrots. Crush the cardamom seeds in a mortar and pestle to a fine powder. Keep this aside.
• In a microwave safe bowl, add ghee (1 Tbsp ) and grated carrots. Microwave this for 5 mins.
• Add milk and stir well. Microwave this for another 5 mins, stirring for every 2 mins.
• Add cardamom, ghee(1Tbsp) and sugar, stir well. Microwave this for 12 mins until carrots turns soft and milk fully absorbed, stir it for every 5 mins. Carrot halwa is ready.
• Garnish it with roasted cashews or any nuts of your choice. Serve it warm or cold.

Tips

• You can use condensed milk instead of adding 2% fat milk.
• Add any nuts of choice for garnish.
• If you have unroasted cashews, roast it in ghee before you serve.
• You can also serve this halwa with ice cream on top.
• It will lasts for 2-3 days so refrigerate it in an air tight box.
• Adjust the amount of sugar according to your taste.
• When you add sugar, the mixture turns watery so microwave till all the milk is absorbed.

    Health Benefits of Carrot

• Good for the eyes.
• Prevents cancer.
• Vitamin A and antioxidant in carrot protect the skin from sun damage.
• Prevents heart disease and stroke.
• It has anti-aging property.

• sending recipe to “Walking through the memory lane” event (WTML) Gayathri’s Cook Spot.Daythroughmylife

                 Ulundu vadai / medu vada is a traditional south Indian snack. Medu vada are crispy on outside and soft on inside. Ulundu vadai are made from urad dal batter. Green chillies, ginger, curry leaves, pepper and onion are mixed into the batter. medu vadai is wheel-shaped with a hole in the middle. Ulundu vadai / urad dal vada is bland and so it is usually enjoyed with chutney or sambar.

    Ingredients for Ulundu Vadai

    Number of servings : 10

• Black Split Urad Dal – 1/2 Cup
• Ginger – 1/2 Inch
• Green Chillies – 2
• Salt to taste
• Water as needed( ~ 2 Tbsp)
• Crushed Pepper – 1 Tsp 
• Shallots or Small Onion –  7 
• Few Curry Leaves
• Oil for deep frying 

    
    Method for Medu Vada

• Soak the urad dal for 1 hour in enough water.
• Drain the water and wash the dal and remove the skin.
• Take a mixie or grinder or food processor, transfer urad dal, green chillies and ginger to it. Add a lit bit of water. Grind it until smooth consistency. Make sure don’t add too much of water, because vadai will absorbs more oil in that case.
• Once the batter is ready, add chopped onions, curry leaves, salt and crushed pepper. Mix Well with spoon or by hand.
• Heat oil in a shallow pan. Take a zip lock bag or Milk cover or banana leaf or polythene sheet and have a cup of water in bowl on sides.
• Just wet your hands, take a small sized batter and place it in the zip lock bag greased with water. Make a hole in the middle and carefully transfer it to the hot oil. Continue the same process for each vadai.

      Here is the video on how to make vadai..

• Fry the vadai till it turns golden brown color on both sides.
• Serve hot along with sambar and coconut chutney.         

    Tips

• If your batter is watery, add a tsp of rice flour to it or refrigerate the batter for 30 mins to 1 hour.
• You can use white or black urad dal to make vadai.
• Don’t add too much of water, because vadai absorbs too much of oil.
• You can shape vadai either in Zip lock bag or in palm of your hand
• If you don’t get shape, the easy & best way is to drop the batter with a spoon into the oil.

    Health Benefits of Urad dal

• Urad dal provides energy to the body.
• Rich in protein.
• Enhances digestion because of high in fiber content.
• Boost heart health because of high in magnesium level.

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