With Diwali just around the corner, I have carrot desserts on my mind! This would be an excellent brunch dessert to serve at Diwali! I love Indian desserts and Indian carrot desserts just so happen to be a favorite of mine. I already have gajar ka halwa and carrot laddoo recipes on my blog.
You can make kheer or payasam out of different things but the dessert usually has a few similar ingredients: cardamom, nuts, dried fruits and sugar or jaggery. I use quite a bit of sugar in this recipe, but you can definitely use less. You can replace the sugar with any sweetener of your choice. Honey and maple syrup are good options. You can also use coconut sugar or jaggery if you don’t mind changing the colour of the dessert.
This is a dessert that tastes even better the next day, once the cardamom has really had time to infuse into the dessert, so if you’re planning a party then make this in advance. Carrots and cardamom go so well together.
You can serve this orange-coloured kheer at any temperature. I normally prefer rice kheer to be warm but I actually prefer this carrot kheer chilled. And if you’re serving it chilled, top it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream! Ooh, or better yet – pistachio ice cream!
Well, well well, let’s get to the recipe….
Ingredients
- 2 cups Milk
- 1 & ½ cup Carrot, grated
- ¼ cup + 2 tbsp. Sugar
- ¼ cup Water
- 1 tbsp. Ghee
- 1-2 Cardamoms, powdered
- 8-10 Cashews
- 10-12 Raisins
- 3-4 strands Saffron
Method
- First wash, peel and grate carrot finely. I used around 2-3 carrots.
- Side by side, in a saucepan, bring 2 cups milk to boil. Simmer it until it reduces to 1 cup.
- Heat ghee in a pan and roast the cashew and raisins till they turn golden brown. Drain the roasted cashew and raisins from ghee and keep aside.
- In the same pan, saute the carrot in medium flame until it turns pale, dry and soft. This takes a few minutes.
- Add water, sugar and bring to boil. Do not let it boil for long time.
- Pour in milk and saffron.
- Simmer for 3-4 minutes.
- Add powdered cardamom. Mix and switch off flame.
- Garnish with roasted cashews and raisins.
- Serve warm or chilled as you desire.