How to make Carrot Halwa
Ingredients:
Fresh Carrots – shredded – 4 cups Milk – 3 cups (whole milk gives richness, but you can use reduced fat too) Sugar – 1 cup Ghee (clarified butter) – 8 tbsp. (approximately 1/2 cup) Cashew nuts – 10 Cardamom pods
Step 1.
Wash, peel and grate the carrots measured the carrots loosely but heaped
Step 2.
Place a wide-mouthed, heavy-bottomed vessel in Medium-High heat. [Wide-mouthed vessel so that the carrots get cooked fast and uniform. This way you can save gas, time and energy. I did not have a wide-mouthed vessel. Used my pressure cooker]. Add 4 tbsp. ghee.
Step 3.
Add the shredded carrots into the ghee and mix well.
Step 4.
Fry until the carrots turn pale. Compare picture above and below. Do you see the color difference in the carrots? Carrots have turned pale which means they won’t have raw smell. You’ll now feel a kind of sweet smell from the carrots. This process takes around 10 minutes. Add the milk.
Step 5.
I used 3 cups of milk. i.e. enough milk to submerge the carrots so that they get cooked well in the milk. Allow the milk to boil. Takes 5 minutes.
Step 6.
Let the carrots get cooked well in the milk. The carrots should drink in all the milk. This will take 20-30 minutes. Stir the content from time to time to prevent scorching. [Duration will sure come down if you use a wide wok. btw, is anybody looking at my scorched vessel? I’ve to get non-stick set <note to the husband>]

Step 7.
Once the milk is completely drunk, add in the sugar. Mix well. Reduce flame to Medium. Once sugar is added, the content tends to liquefy (picture in the right). Need not alarm. Stir at regular intervals. We need to wait until the mixture turns thick. This will take around 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile work on Step 8 and 9.

barfii Ingredients: * Cashew – 1 ¼ to 1 ½ cups [ I used whole cashews ] * Sugar – ¾ cup * Water – 4 tbsp. * Ghee [Just enough for greasing. I used only 2 tsp.] Prep time: 45 min Cook time: 6 min Total time: 51 min Step 1 Take a dry mixer jar. Add the cashews and grind to make it a powder. Take care while you grind. Use the pulse option in the mixie/mixer grinder Take care you do not grind the cashew continuously since they start to release their oil and will turn into a paste instead of powder. In mid-way of grinding just take the jar and shake the powder with spoon since they’ll stick together at the bottom. Then continue pulsing. You need not strive for a fine powder. It’s okay if your cashew powder is little coarse. Step 3. Set the tools ready. Grease a flat plate with little ghee. Grease a spoon and chapatti roller pin. Set a butter sheet or an aluminium foil on another flat plate (I used my cookie bake-ware plate]. Grease the butter sheet/aluminium foil with little ghee. Step 4. Put the sugar in the pan. Pour exactly 4 tbsp of water. Now switch on the gas and have the flame in medium. Step 5. Stir the sugar such that it melts in the water. Once it melts, it begins to boil immediately. Just cook the syrup for exactly two more minutes. Never allow the syrup to become very thick. [This step totally takes 2-3 minutes only] Now reduce the flame to LOW. Step 6. Add the cashew powder and immediately stir them. Don’t allow any lumps to form. Keep stirring. The stirring should lead to a thick cashew paste (hot koya/hot pal kova consistency) [This should take only 2-3 minutes]. Switch off the flame. The total cooking time will be only 5-6 minutes. Sure not more than that. Now, we should act quickly. Pour the hot cashew dough on the greased plate. Step 7. Scrap all the cashew from the ladle. Using a spoon just turn the dough up and down for some time (may be a minute). This will allow the heat to escape helping us to handle the hot cashew dough with our hands. Do not over-do this step since if all the heat is gone, then it’ll be difficult to set the burfi as they might start to crumble. Step 8. Now it’s time to handle the hot cashew dough with your hands. Again, grease your palms with little ghee (I always use my homemade ghee). Knead the cashew dough gently just for minute and gather them together. Step 9. Shift them from one palm to another aiming to form a nice big ball [if you know ‘hot-cross-buns song, you can sing it as you do this step Winking smile]. Do the shifting of the cashew dough just for a minute. DO not over-do this step, since too much handling of the cashew dough with your hands will make the cashews to release their oil. Also, remember not to release all of the heat by kneading. We need some heat in the dough while we make them sit to get their shape. Handle the kaju dough gently but firmly. Step 10. When they gather nicely into a shining ball, put the ball on the greased butter sheet/aluminium foil. Step 11. Pat the cashew dough with your fingers [like how you pat ragi roti]. Pat them to form a layer. Step 12. Now roll the dough gently with the rolling pin making a ¼ inch layer. (Do not try to cut them now. We’ll do it after the burfee nicely sets). Step 13. Shape them into a rectangle using a sharp kitchen scale (I used my dosa ladle). [My aim to form a rectangle ended up like an octagon Smile with tongue out] Step 14. Leave the dough for half-an-hour. I left it to sit like this for one-and-a-half hours. Step 15. The Cashew burfis were wonderfully set after 1 ½ hours easy enough to cut them into cakes. I am not good at Geometry. So I drew slight lines to form diamond shapes on the dough. Step 16. Once I got the shapes right, I started to cut them. Cut them and slide (pull) them gently. Step 17. Keep them in an airtight container. I refrigerated it so that the shapes set even tightly. [ahuhh… do not taste. It will sure taste divine! If you start to taste then, no cashew burfee will be left over for Deepavali Rolling on the floor laughing. They tempt you to eat more that you’ll not know they are getting over]

besan ladoo recipe: 1: heat ghee in a thick bottomed pan. add the besan and stir. keep on stirring and continue to roast for 6-7 minutes on a low flame, till you start getting a nutty fragrance from the besan (chickpea flour). roast besan 2: continue to roast besan on a low flame till the color has changed and the ghee starts to release from the besan. approx 14-15 minutes and the aroma of the roasted besan will be clearly felt. if the besan is not roasted well then you will get a raw taste in the ladoo. roast besan well for besan ladoo recipe 3: add superfine sugar or powdered sugar. i added organic unrefined cane sugar. mix sugar besan mixture 4: stir & mix on a low flame for 5-7 minutes remember to keep on stirring so that the mixture does not stick to the bottom of the pan and burns. switch off the flame. stir besan 5: then add dry fruits and cardamom powder. i have added raisins here. add dry fruits to roasted besan 6: stir the besan mixture well. let the besan ladoo mixture get warm or cool down. besan ladoo mixture 7: once the besan ladoo mixture cools down or is warm enough for you to handle, then make small or medium sized besan ladoos from the mixture. besan ladoos 8: serve besan ladoos immediately or store them in an airtight container. Ingredients for the jamuns: * 1 cup khoya/mava/evaporated milk, 100 gms * ¾ cup grated paneer, 100 gms of paneer * 3 tbsp maida/all purpose flour * 2 tbsp sooji/rava/semolina * 4 cardamoms/choti elaichi, powdered in a mortar-pestle * 1 tbsp milk or add as required * ¼ tsp baking powder * oil for deep frying the gulab jamuns 1. take khoya/mava/evaporated milk in a bowl. 2. mash it very well. there should be no lumps or small bits or pieces in the khoya. you can also grate and then mash the khoya. 3. then add grated paneer, rava/sooji, all purpose flour/maida, baking powder and cardamom powder to the mashed khoya. there should be no lumps in both the mawa and paneer. if there are lumps, then the texture of the gulab jamuns is not even and smooth. the bits and pieces of mawa or paneer give a bite while eating the gulab jamuns. 4. mix well. 5. add milk and gather together to form a dough with milk. don’t knead. just gently mix. if you are unable to form balls or if the mixture appears dry, then add a few teaspoons of milk. cover the dough and keep aside for 30 mins. Baked custard 2 eggs 2 cups milk 1/3 cup sugar 1/4 tsp. salt Dash ground cinnamon Dash ground nutmeg Whisk the eggs, milk, sugar, and salt together in a small bowl. Whisk together 2 eggs, 2 cups of milk, 1/3 cup of sugar, and 1/4 tbsp. of salt together in a small bowl until the ingredients are completely blended. Pour the ingredients into 4 ungreased 8 oz. custard cups. Sprinkle the ingredients with a dash of ground cinnamon and a dash of ground nutmeg. Place the custard cups in a 13 x 9-in baking pan. Pour hot water up to 3/4 inches in the pan. Bake the cups uncovered for 50-55 minutes. Bake them until a knife inserted near the center of the custard comes out clean. Remove the cups to a wire rack to cool them when you're done. Serve. Enjoy this baked custard warm or chill it for an hour.

Coconut bafi Ingredients:
225 gms Khoya
225 gms coconut (dry and ground)
1 tsp cardamom seeds (ground)
1 tbsp ghee
2 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups water
1/2 tsp almonds (grated)
1/2 tsp pistachios (grated)

How to make coconut burfi: * Mix khoya and coconut and fry them lightly with ghee on a low heat. * Add cardamom and mix well. * Prepare one-string syrup by dissolving sugar in the water. * Now stir the coconut mixture into the syrup. * Grease the plate and spread the grated nuts on it. * Spread the prepared evenly over the plate and allow it to cool. * Now with the knife, cut it into desired shapes. * Turn them over so that nuts covered part appears on the top. * Nariyal ki burfi is ready to be served.