Gajar Halwa [ Nepalese Carrot Cardamom Pudding ]

One day, a friend of mine introduced me to her native cuisine from Nepal. She brought this yummy Carrot Cardamom pudding as a dessert on one of our potluck nights. It was totally love at the first bite for Nepalese dessert for me. 

Ingredients: 

2½ Cups of grated carrots (depending on the size of the carrots, but it took me 7-8 carrots)

1 Cup of almond milk (or just regular milk)

1½ Cups of regular milk

¼ cup sweet condensed milk

6 Cardamom pods (peel the pods and just take the seeds)

6 Tbsp sugar to taste

¼ Cups of raisins

1/3 Cups slivered almond

1/3 Cups chopped pistachio

2 Tbsp butter 

1. In a sauce pan, add grated carrot, almond milk, milk, condensed milk on medium heat. Stir occasionally.

2. Continue to cook for 20 minutes then add cardamom seeds and stir.

3. Reduce the heat and continue simmering until the mixture start to thicken.

4. Add sugar, butter, raisins, almond and pistachio. Stir gently.

5. Cook for 3-5 minutes or until it is as thick as you like. 

For warm serving, scoop an amount of the pudding and serve it in a serving bowl while its hot.  

For cold serving, like I did on my pic, put all the mixture in a square bowl and let it cool down in the fridge for about an hour or two. Make sure the mixture isn't too thick if you want to serve it cold since the mixture will get more thickened once its cooled down. 

Happy cooking!!

PS: you can substitute raisins, almond and pistachio with any kind of dry fruit you like :)