Carrot Semolina Halwa

I am planning to post three sweet dishes from Indian cuisine this week that are made with vegetables. The first one among those is this delicious halwa. Halwa, though associated with Persian cuisine also happens to be a popular sweet dish in India and there are varieties ranging from those made with flours, legumes to fruits and vegetables. Carrot halwa and semolina halwa are two popular ones among the genre and I tried to combine both in today's dish which yielded a yummy fusion. 

Carrots, semolina and sugar are the main ingredients that are needed to make this quick and easy sweet dish. Dairy or non dairy milk can be added or omitted depending upon whether halwa needs to be rich or not. I tried to keep it a less calorie one adding little amount of ghee and milk. It can be made rich adding more ghee and cooking the halwa in milk instead of water.

(Yield 4 servings) Ingredients: 
2 tbsp. ghee
2 tbsp. cashews
1 cup peeled and grated carrot
1/2 cup milk
1 and 1/2 cups water *
2 pinches of ground cardamom
1/2 cup roasted semolina 
3/4 cup to 1 cup sugar

*  Milk can be used instead of water. Or half the quantity of water can be replaced with milk.

Directions:
* Heat ghee in  a pan and add toast cashews until golden brown. Remove them with a slotted spoon onto a plate and add grated carrot to the same ghee. 
* Saute the carrot for a couple of minutes and add milk. Cook on low medium flame until carrot is softened, stirring intermittently. The carrot would have absorbed all the milk, by this time.
* Next add water to the cooked carrot and bring the mixture to a boil. (Half or full quantity of water can be replaced with milk if preferred.) 
* Add ground cardamom to the boiling water and lower the heat. Next add semolina, stirring continuously while doing so and taking care that no lumps are formed. Cover and cook until semolina is done. 
* Next add sugar and cook until the sugar melts. Mix well and cook for a minute more and turn off the stove.
* Add the toasted cashews to the cooked halwa and serve.

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