Sweet sensation

Year 1984. Somewhere in Filmistan studios, a hindi movie scene is being shot where the hero comes back to the village from the city. And the mother is full of happiness and to express the same, she makes one recipe for his son. To put in Bollywood lingo she goes" Beta haath mooh dho le, maine apne haathon se tere pasand ka gajar ka halwa banaya hain." The next scene has few high octave rendition of the words ‘Gajar ka halwa’ with special emphasis on the word ‘Maa’

Decades later, with the western influence may be the ‘Maa ke haath ka gajar ka halwa’ is fast disappearing from our movie scenes, but its one desert which has caught my fantasy for its rich filmy past, vibrant color and the motherly tag attached to it, which makes you long for it when you are away from home.

To cut the Sunday afternoon boredom, I decided to try out the recipe. That meant rushing to Walmart and getting all the ingredients to give it a perfect taste. The most essential ingredient is getting the Sweetened Condensed milk. Rest all the ingredients Carrot, Milk, Butter were already there. And off course few nuts to add-in and garnish.

This recipe can be summed up as 15-15-6. The grated carrot(1/2 kg) and 1/2 cup of milk to be heated in microwave for 15 mins. After that add 200ml of Condensed milk and another 15 mins. And last a scoop of butter, little sugar, crushed almonds and pinch of cinnamon/ cardamom powder and then 6 mins of last heating session and the recipe is ready.