Baked halwa is an experiment to attempt halwa in an easy manner. This halwa is not a grainy textured one, it is very smooth and flavourful.
I was thinking of trying out carrot halwa by baking and felt like using my regular carrot halwa ratio in this as well to maintain nice colour and flavour by using Delhi Red carrot which is available only during the winter months as well as the regular orange one.
In this recipe, at first, I have cooked the carrot, then pureed and baked. The recipe goes like this –
Ingredients:
Red carrot – 1 kg
Regular carrot – ½ kg
Milk – ½ cup
Sugar – 2 to 3 cups (according to your taste)
Cardamom – 1 tsp
Saffron – 8 – 10 strings (optional)
Salt – one pinch (it really helps in balancing the taste)
Ghee – ½ cup
Slivered almonds – (roasted)
Method:
-Wash, slice the carrots. Take one pressure cooker and cook carrot by adding milk and saffron until 2 to 3 whistles.
-When cooked carrot comes to room temperature, churn it into a puree by adding sugar or you can do it like me.
-Now take this puree, mix in sugar, cook until sugar dissolves and add ghee, salt and cardamom. check the sugar and if needed adjust according to your taste.
-Transfer this mixture into a baking dish and bake this in a pre-heated oven at 180 °C for 40 to 60 minutes or until top layer becomes dark and bubbly.
-Remove from the oven and spread the almond slivers at the top and you can proceed to enjoy as it is or with a scoop of ice cream.