Sweet Memories with Gajar Ka Halwa (Toasting the first year of Marriages)

You have to agree when I say that the first year of any marriage is the toughest. I married for love and despite a 6 month courtship period before the wedding, it was very tough trying to adjust to each other’s way of life. I thought I was the messiest person that I knew ( you should ask my hostel room mates)  but my hubby took ‘messy’ to a whole new level. Picking up after him was the prime duty that I assigned myself those days. In the initial days, I did my dutiful wife bid but a month or two later I realized he showed no inclination whatsoever to clean up. That was probably the reason of the very first row.

Oh wait, we did fight before that on our honeymoon to Thailand. He refused to try anything outside of the McDonald’s Burger and I was excited about trying all kinds of cuisine and explore sorts of tastes. I freaked out over fresh water mussels, octopuses and squids with sauce, gravy, fried and steamed. It was exhilarating for me as a food lover while my hubby watched me with resigned exasperation. I asked, coaxed, cajoled and even blackmailed him to taste something outside of the regular but he stood his ground. That was definitely our first fight. I couldn’t imagine why he wouldn’t grant the wish of his beloved, newly wedded wife.

As for him, he was amused by how fickle and vacillating I was with my interests. It would be singing one day, Jazz on others, squash on certain days and waltz on most. He was  the one to suggest that I should start penning my thoughts on a blog so that I can have a more centered approach to my life. I laughed it off saying he  should try to keep up with me. But realized that I was dissatisfied with not keeping up with my interests and being true to any of them. These were  just a few of the many skirmishes in that roller coaster of a first year.

There are so many aspects of each other that we discovered only after we got married. It was like knowing a new person altogether. It wasn’t all terrible. We had many sweet moments too. He was astounded that I could actually cook a complete meal and confessed that he did not believe me when I told him that I loved to cook. As for him, I found out what a huge movie buff he was and inevitably we would end up watching atleast 2 movies in a week. He conveniently opted to rent a place very close to a Cineplex so travel woes were little. He made me fall hopelessly in love with the glorious world of movies. We soon realized we shared a passion for reading, travelling and all things sweet and he would go ga-ga over the Kheer ( rice pudding), Gulab jamuns, Sheera/ Sooji halwa that I prepared for him over weekends. On one such weekend he was particularly  ecstatic when I made Gajar ka Halwa. The usually reserved hubby showered it with a lot of praise and it pushed my culinary confidence many notches higher.

Recipe for Gajar Ka Halwa

Ingredients

Carrots – 1/2 Kg ( I prefer the pink Indian varieties that flood the local markets during winter)

Condensed Milk – 3/4 of the 395 gm tin

Ghee/Clarified butter – 1 -2 tbsp

Sugar – 2 tbsp

Whole Milk – 1/2 cup ( only if required)

Golden raisins – handful, soaked a few hours

Cashews – handful

Pistachios  - chopped for garnish

Almonds – chopped for garnish

Preparation

1. Wash and peel carrots and then grate them.

2. Heat some clarified butter / ghee in a pan and then add the grated carrots to it and toss them well. Let it cook in it’s own juices and the ghee will coat the carrots with a sheen.

3. Add condensed milk and continue cooking the carrots, stirring well in between. It would help to stick around to see it doesn’t burn.

4. Add the 2 tbsp of sugar only after tasting it first. If you find that the condensed milk sweetness is good enough then you can skip adding the sugar.

5. While the carrots cook in the condensed milk and sugar, you can fry the soaked raisins and cashews in another small pan. I used ghee to fry them and they lend a remarkable flavour to the nuts.

6. If you feel that the condensed milk has dried faster than you would liked, you might want to add 1/2 a cup of milk to the Halwa.  Keep stirring. ( I did not have to)

7. Now add the fried raisins and nuts to the halwa and toss it all well.

8. The Halwa will start to look dry and well cooked and that is the time to take it off the heat and garnish it with Pistachios and Almonds if you want.

9. It can be served hot or cold; with or without a dollop of vanilla ice cream.

This is a perfect winter treat and there would hardly be a North Indian household that wouldn’t have Gajar ka Halwa in their refrigerator at anytime of the day or night. Hubby devoured the entire lot at all times ; before and after meals. He prefers it cold from the refrigerator while I prefer it hot. I just pop it in the Microwave for 30 secs and enjoy the delicacy, savouring the gorgeous flavour and colour of the Halwa. After 6 years of our marriage, we still love our sweets and our books. Travelling has become a little restricted because of Mimi but we can’t wait for her to grow up so that we can share with her our love for wanderlust. Sometimes when we sit back and talk about how silly the first year of our marriage was, we end up in a fit of giggles.  

But in my opinion, we as people, constantly change and it is wonderful to discover this person who is your partner, every single day. A new dimension to admire, a new habit to adjust to, a new discussion to debate and a new hobby to encourage. Sure, we still have differences and that is what makes being married interesting. But when I look at them closely, these differences are new differences and it feels like the first year of marriage all over again. But I am not complaining as long as he is still in love with my Gajar Ka Halwa.

Advertisement

Tags: carrots, condensed milk, dessert, halwa, Indian, Marriages, sweet