Divine!!! Delightful!!Decadent!!! My husband would go on adding some few more adjectives for this luscious laddu for sure !! It was my 9th marriage anniversary and wanted to make a dessert for the hubby dear using carrot, his favorite . Suddenly something popped into my brain and here comes the end result !!
This laddu is a combination of two desserts , carrot halwa and kalakand . But trust me , they are not at all difficult to make .
For the Carrot halwa:
Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 cup of shredded carrot
1/4 th cup sugar
2 tbl spoon ghee
1/3 rd cup of condensed milk
Little orange food color ( optional , if your carrot gets light colored while cooking)
Don’t use any “garam masala” like cardamom, cinnamon . Trust me they ruin the taste of halwa . Keep it simple , you will find the taste better .
Procedure:
1. Peel and finely grate the carrots . Now mix with sugar . Put them in a pan , preferably non-stick one , cover with the lid tightly and cook on low flame until the water from sugar and carrots dries out . As the pan is covered by the lid , the steam created inside will cook the carrot soon . Check after five minutes . Stir so that the carrot must not get burnt . Keep it like this another 2 minutes . This method helps to retain the color of the carrot and sugar enhances the color a lot . Make sure the stove is on low flame . If you find your carrots need some little more time to get done , take your time but stir occasionally .
2. Add ghee and mix well . Now pour the condensed milk and keep stirring until the liquid dries out and halwa pulls away from the sides of the pan. Turn off the stove and let it cool a bit .
In the mean time start making your kalakand;
Ingredients for kalakand:
For Chaana/ chesse
1. Milk 1 ltr / 4 cups
2. Lemon Juice 1 and half table spoon
Other Ingredients:
1. Ghee/clarified butter 2 tbl spoon
2. Powder Milk 4/5 tbl spoon
3. Condensed Milk a little more than half Tin
4. Cardamom Powder/ Elach guro half teaspoon
Cooking Method:
1. Heat the milk and bring it to a boil stirring occasionally so that the milk should not get burnt on the bottom. Then add the lemon juice and stir until the greenish water is seen, i.e, the whey is separated and the milk curdled.
2. Now remove almost all the whey/ water from the cheese , taking a little amount of it . If you strain all the whey no prob at all. đ
3. Continue to cook the Chaana on the stove on medium low heat. Add ghee, cardamom powder and sweetened condensed milk. Keep stirring. It will get thicker and will form water less lump. Remember Kalakand should have that crumbly texture.Add the powder milk and cook for last 1 minute . let it cool a bit too .
Making the laddu:
Now mix the kalakand with carrot halwa and shape into the size of laddus .
Enjoy !!
Khadiza's Kitchen 