Finding a little cheer over the holidays can be harder than ever because of the winter’s long, dark nights and chilly temperatures. And this year, if the winter blues are affecting you particularly hard, we recommend grabbing some homemade winter treats.
Gajrela Halwa with nutty chocolate crunch
Ingredients:
- Carrot
- Sugar
- Raisins
- Cashew nut
- Green cardamom
- Desi ghee
- Khoya danedar
- Sweet tart
- Maida
- Butter
- Milk
Method:
- Clean and peel carrots, and grate coarsely.
- In a deep-bottomed pan, add carrots, milk, and green cardamom (crushed)
- Put it on fire and cook till the carrot is done and the entire milk is consumed
- In a separate kadhai, add ghee. When warm, add raisins and cashew nuts.
- Saute for a minute, add 3/4th khoya and saute for another 3-4 minutes.
- Now add cooked carrots and sugar. Cook for another 3- 4 minutes.
- Turn off the flame and let it cool.
- Line individual pie shells with Gajrela, top with crumbled Khoya garnished with dark chocolate crunch
- To prepare tart: Knead soft dough with all the ingredients. Line tart mould with the dough
- Bake in the oven at 180-200 degrees Celsius for 20-25 minutes
- Let it cool and demould.
- Use as required.
Beetroot Halwa
Ingredients:
- Beetroot
- Desi Ghee
- Sugar
- Khoyadanedar (reduced milk)
- Green cardamoms (powder)
- Almond chopped
- Cashewnut chopped
Method:
- First, rinse, peel and grate the beetroot. Heat ghee in a heavy pan on medium flame.
- Add grated beetroot and mix well with ghee.
- Cook beetroot on medium flame. Continue to stir until the moisture evaporates.
- Add sugar and continue to saute until beetroot halwa turns thick. Add khoya and keep stirring to avoid burning. Switch off the flame.
- Add nuts and cardamom powder, mix well and serve it hot or cold.
Lauki Tart Halwa
Ingredients
Lauki (Bottle gourd)
Desi Ghee
Sugar
Khoya danedar (Reduced milk)
Green Cardamoms (powder)
Almond chopped
Cashewnut chopped
Method
- Rinse, peel and grate the lauki and remove the centre portion. Heat ghee in a heavy pan on medium flame.
- Add the grated lauki and mix very well with the ghee.
- Cook the lauki on medium flame.
- Continue to stir until the moisture evaporates.
- Add sugar and saute till the lauki halwa turns thick.
- Add Khoya and keep stirring to avoid burning. Switch off the flame.
- Add nuts and cardamom powder, mix well and serve it hot or cold.
- To give a twist to this halwa, you can get small readymade tart shells and transfer the lauki halwa in them. It tastes excellent when binged in together.
(Recipes curated by Swapnadeep Mukherjee, Executive Chef, The Metropolitan Hotel & Spa)