The favorite Gajar Halwa aka Carrot Halwa, made in an Instant Pot…
Remember that I mentioned about the first post I wanted to do in 2025 in this chicken biriyani post? Well, it was meant to be this Instant Pot Gajar Ka Halwa. After a long break, I wanted to start off with something sweet, but nothing went my way, Ramadan came in quickly and I ended up doing the biriyani post. 😀 I had started that post by writing down where I had been over the past few months – starting from quitting work in September last year after hardly working for 10 months (hmm… I really don’t want to dwell around it… :D), to then planning a ladies only Umrah trip with two friends of mine in November, which was absolutely amazing SubhanAllah. It went way better than we had expected. After that, we undertook a drive to Qatar during the National Day holidays in December, just me, my bestie and my two girls. After doing Salalah in 2023 July, the Qatar trip was a cakewalk – a drive with no hiccups and a very relaxing trip. The capital of Qatar, even though magnificent, has this very slow pace that we absolutely loved.
Then end of December, I had to go home to attend two weddings on HD’s side. I couldn’t take the girls along because of their school schedules. HD joined in later in January for the second wedding, so I had a good 26 days of lots of eating, running around, dressing up and generally just smiling. Then, with the blink of an eye, Ramadan came and went. It was just too fast, so did Eid vanish. Last week, we went on a family Umrah trip, that I was really yearning for and Alhamdulillah, I am so grateful to the Almighty for making it happen in the most beautiful way. It is a part of my beautiful memories that I will cherish for life. 🙂 I am so looking forward to the rest of the year, and sincerely hoping to make it one of the best years in many ways, Bi’iznillah…
After getting the Nutripot, the first dish I cooked was the kichadi, and thankfully it turned out well. So then my next plan was to try my favorite dessert Gajar ka Halwa – just that on the blog, the chicken biriyani came running to take the first place. 😉 I am not a fan of raw carrots but I love it in my umma’s cake version and as halwa. I have already shared many versions including this pressure cooker version, which is my favorite way of cooking it. Instant Pot is a glamourized pressure cooker with buttons on it and with absolutely no noise. 😀 Each time I cook something, I am constantly looking into it to see if it is actually working. As an Indian who owns so many pressure cookers, I have to train my brain that pressure cooking can be a silent process. 😉
OK, so coming back to the halwa, I was just noticing that in my first post, Rasha had grated the carrots and she was tiny. This time as well, she repeated the process. She never says no to peeling and grating carrots, I am not sure if it is out of liking the activity or having no energy to say “no”. Hehe… The Instant Pot works just like a pressure cooker, so first we put it “Sauté” setup and then pressure cook on high, before we sauté the halwa again till it dries up. I kept the timer for the pressure cooker at five minutes and natural release to overcook the carrots literally, but if you don’t want that, you can keep it for 3 or 4 minutes and let the pressure go as soon as it is done. Sauté till the halwa dries up and it is ready to be enjoyed. As much as I love this halwa, the only issue is that it literally shrinks to half once cooked and makes us feel that there is hardly anything to eat. Hehe… Off to the recipe…
Instant Pot Gajar Ka Halwa | Carrot Halwa
Ingredients
- 750 gm carrots red ones is best
- 2 cups full fat milk
- 1/2 can condensed milk
- 1/4 cup milk powder
- A pinch of salt
- 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
- 1-2 tbsp ghee
- Handful nuts and raisins
Instructions
- Peel the carrot and grate them either manually or with a processor.
- Switch on the Instant Pot, put on Saute mode.
- Add the ghee. Once it heats, fry the nuts briefly.
- Add in the carrots and saute for 5 minutes, tossing it gently.
- Once the carrots change color, add in the remaining ingredients, give it a good mix.
- Switch off the Saute mode and switch on Pressure Cook mode. Close the lid, make sure the pressure lid is close and set the timer to 5 minutes.
- Once the pot is done, leave the pressure to go on its own.
- Once pressure is gone, open the lid, switch on the Saute mode and cook the halwa till the liquid is gone. Make sure to keep sauteing in order to avoid sticking to the bottom.
- Switch off and enjoy - hot or cold.