February 3, 2007

CARROT-BEET HALWA !


Saint Valentine's Day or Valentine's Day falls on February 14.Here is my beautiful heart shaped Carrot-Beet Halwa(Pudding)for Meeta of 'whatsforlunchhoney's Monthly Mingle "Sweet Love" event.Thanks for hosting Meeta.



Well..love!!





A little word that enchants you into a different world and makes you feel that magical connection with someone, a feeling which makes you part of someone's life!!:))





Love..Arvind my husband, comes to mind who is my constant partner since we were teenagers and a long, mostly wonderful 20 yr old marriage.Did you read the "mostly" part?!:D
Heart..my two beautiful kiddies.My baby son is going to enjoy his last of Tween years this year to become a Teen next year!!
Sweet..My girl is going to be a "sweet 16" next month!!How sweet is that?!(Let's not talk about what she wants for her 17th Birthday now,shall we?;D)
How lucky am I to have them?! Touch wood!!


Too much sugar already! Before you reach for a paperbag to p...,here is my dish!:D

Carrot-Beet Halwa/Pudding! Serves 2 :)

A classic Punjabi(Indian)'Gajar Halwa'(Carrot pudding) which has been made into a popular dessert synonymous with "mom's love" by Bollywood movies,is a wonderful sweet.It's traditionally made by cooking grated Orange Carrots,sugar,Cardamom,almonds,raisins,cream or Khoya and butter to make it a sinfully delicious rich dessert!


Of course since I am cooking for Valentine's day,I made some changes by adding Beet and lot less cream to make it red and molded into a heart shape to celebrate "Sweet Love"!

What you need:
4 medium (fresh and young) Carrots,washed and cubed,1/2 beet peeled and cubed,1/4 cup (or to your taste) Brown sugar,1tbsp Cream or milk,pinch of salt,and 1 tsp Cornstarch.
1/2 tsp Cardamom pd. Almonds for garnish.2 tbsp unsalted butter.
How to make:
1. Blend all the above except Almonds,cardamom pd and butter to a coarse paste.
2. Melt butter in a heavy bottomed wide pan and add the ground mixture.
3. Cook on medium heat until soft and almost dry.Stir often to prevent sticking.
4. Sprinkle Cardamom pd and mix well.Fill it in a heart shaped mold and chill in the fridge until firm.Garnish with Almonds and serve at room teperature.

Note:
1. Traditional Gajar Halwa(Carrot Pudding) does not include Beet or Cornstarch.Carrots are grated and cooked with other ingredients including Raisins.
2. Adding cornstarch and grinding with Beet makes it red ,smooth and thick, to make it easy to mold for my dish shown above.
3. Gajar Halwa has more cream than this recipe which makes it orange-pink!I wanted a red color for this Valentine's day dish,so just added just a little cream than the usual.


A little History of Valentine's Day:

Valentine's day is the traditional day on which lovers express their love for each other with Valentine's cards and candy.The holiday is named after two men, both Christian martyrs named Valentine. The day became associated with romantic love in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.In the United States, the marketing of Valentine's Day has tagged it as a "Hallmark holiday"!(WIKI)More info here!


That's all folks.Have a wonderful Valentine's day!:))

35 comments:

Meeta K. Wolff said...

What a impressive combo. Thank you for the entry. Never hat a beet carrot halva but it sounds very interesting.

FH said...

You are welcome Meeta!:)) Enjoy the new taste.I surely had fun creating it!Have a great weekend.

Sri said...

Hi Asha unable to comment on your foodie's hope..its ok atleast i can comment here :).That's a healthy spread of dishes. Where can i get Chayote? Can I get them from our supermarket, will look for them next time. I will be making idli today:)

Nabeel said...

thank you and you too .. have a wonderful valentines day .. hmm I gotta get some sweet gift too .. ok i have a few days left .. and yaa the pictures u posted don't load up.

FH said...

Hi Sri.I know the trouble getting in FH.Try thru' Mozilla,Netscape or Firefox,might work.Thanks for trying Sri.Yes,Chayotes;I usually get them in the produce isle in the regular grocery store.Hope you try and get some!:))

Hi Nabeel,have a great V day too! Some Google problem,so I re-loaded the picture.Hope you can see it now.Have fun on Sunday,thanks!:))

mommyof2 said...

great looking cake:-)& Nice reading about Love, heart & sweet. If you have written sweet before heart it wouldh;ve been Love sweet heart ot sweetheart Love;-) I know its silly of me;-)

I see lots of beet root recipes from you and you have to solve my problem:-) I love beet root but only as salad or in juice and that too I taste pesticides kindda smell in it. I really can't think of eating this as sabji or especially cake but You are making me change my mind & liking;-) So one of these days I might cook beet:-)

Anonymous said...

OH Goody!!!!! I have eaten beet halwa.... I have eaten carrot halwa.... I have never eaten beet carrot halwa!!!!! What a visual treate that is!!!!!

Anonymous said...

A Very nice post Asha..Wishing you a very Happy Valentine's day
-Sushma

Gattina Cheung said...

Asha, you're so thoughtful to create this dish, and so clever to turn it into bright red!!! Really pretty and romatic!

FH said...

Hi Mo2! You are a romantic girl,you are right!!See,I didn't think of all that!:D Beet is naturally sweet,so you need to little more spices than usual.I love savory Beet dishes.Try small anount first and see how you like the dishes with Parathas!:)

Coffee,you have eaten Beet Halwa before!I never did,tastes so good though!I just mixed both to get it red!:))Enjoy!

FH said...

Hi Sushma,thanks girl!:)) As the cook Paula Dean says I am not very "romantical"!:D but will enjoy the day!

Hi Gattina,you are only one who is not having any trouble reaching girl!!:D Thank you.Yeah,I never tr these combo before,turned out well in the end!:) Enjoy and have fun today!

Lakshmik said...

That's quite an innovative recipe. And comes just in time for valentine's day. The color is amazing.

FH said...

Thanks LK! I appreciate it.Enjoy the V day and today!!:))

USHA said...

WOW Ashaji!!Your post is taking me to pink mood.

This is really a wonderful contribution of Meeta's event.

I liked the article everything.Advance wishe to you..

FH said...

Thank you sweet Usha!:)) Hope you have a great V day too and Super Sunday today as well!

Anonymous said...

Hi Asha, this looks so lovely! Hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day with all your sweet hearts :)

FH said...

Thank you Linda.Hope you do too!:))

Sri said...

I will try with netscape Asha...earlier when I had left the comment here...forgot to comment on carrotbeet halwa...actually at that time was unable to see your pics...i saw them now now they look lovely.A perfect valentine dessert. :)

Sia said...

thats so romatic ashakka:) and u r romatic even if u deny;) my god!!! married for 20 years and u say u r not that romatic?;) now i dont belive that... he he he... hope ur MEME writing is going smoothly... will tag u for more... he he he...
love the colour of beet-carrot halwa... i have tasted them separately but never together...

FH said...

Hi Sri,thank you sweetie.I changed my browser to Firefox,I don't think that's makes any diff though!If you still can't get to FH, you can leave it here,that's okay!:))

on Sia,I am not into Romance! REALLY!! :D Your tag is done and coming out Wed,and Melting Wok tagged me the same too,so two in one! HAH!!:))
Are you going tag ...WHAT???!!!I am going to hunt you down and send you packing without your Laptop ie to India!!Air ticket is on me!!!;D

Chickoo said...

Ashakka,
Great recipe!! You are soo creative! Hope you have wonderful valentines day with your family!!

Deepa

Linda said...

how perfectly delicious. and what a lovely photo!

FH said...

Hi Chickoo,thank you.Hope you have a great V day too!:))

Linda, thank you.Hope you give it a try for your honey on V day! ;D

Unknown said...

Hey..thats a nice combo..remmeber i made poriyal out of beet-carrot..would have thought about making a halwa out of this..Looks pretty in that color and i loved the picture.BTW, i am still not able to post in your foodie's hope through IE.In firefox it's working fine.

Mishmash ! said...

A feast to eyes and taste buds alike!!! Very clever way of changing its colour, I liked that part :)Loved reading ur Love, Heart & Sweet.Hope you've a lovely V'Day, Asha (ji) ;)

Shn

Mishmash ! said...

Oops, forgot to add ...Did u enjoy the match ? Our team won! :)

Shn

Prema Sundar said...

I have made carrot and beet halwas seperately but haven't given any thought of combining it together. Great idea to get the reddish colour and lovely presentation too.
Happy valentines day to u too Asha.Hope u have a wonderful day.

Deepak Gopi said...

Hi




Hi:)
Have a wondreful valentines day

FH said...

Hi Mahesh,thanks.Carrot-beet Porial sounds great!I was thinking Avial yesterday with the combo!I installed Firefox last weekend,it's lot faster than IE!:)Hope that makes easier for ppl to get in!:)

Hi Shn! Thanks girl.Sometimes light bulb goes on in my brain!;D
Congratulations,they deserve it.They played very well although at first after the first goal within seconds of game started,we thought Bears are going to win for sure!!But Colts were excellent.Enjoy the victory in the bitter cold!!:))

Thank you Prema.It tasted great too,hopr you try and you too..enjoy the V day!!:)))

Hi Deepak, :)))))))))!!!!!!!!!!Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful red heart. Nice entry.
Have a wonderful V'day.

FH said...

Hi Jas,thank you!! You too!:))

Anjali Koli said...

Hey Asha I saw it just now. It looks yummy and very romantic. Wow yours is a 20 yr old marriage. Hope you have a great V day.

FH said...

Hi Anjali,didn't you know?! Check out 'Our 20th' post last Dec.I have my wedding photos there!:D

Suma Gandlur said...

Asha,
Lovely combo. I love both carrots and beetroots and your halwa looks just yummy.My mouth is watering just looking at your picture.
Loved your tomato penne bake. I will try it and post some pictures.
Thanks

FH said...

Thank you Suma,enjoy the recipes.I making your Rava-coconut laddoos too for MBP!;)