You give me a jug of this and I can drink it all day long, its such a favourite of mine! GAJAR KI KHEER or Carrot Kheer is such a delicious and easy to make Indian dessert. Its not only considered as a dessert. In fact, this kheer is good health drink too! Yep I just said a dessert is good for your health, now isn't that a good news?!
The two main ingredients to make this kheer are carrots and milk. Am a fussy vegetable eater. There are only very few vegetables I like and I always insist them being prepared in a particular way. Carrots are one among them. I hate Carrots...either its raw or cooked! There is only two forms of carrots I love, one is Carrot Halwa and the other is this kheer. The water in which the carrots are cooked and its pulp everything goes into the kheer, so all the nutrients are kept intact. Milk is good source of calcium. And don't forget the nuts in the kheer, are all good for you. Now, isn't that kheer healthy? Gosh, of course not when you are on a diet!!! Go have your raw veggies and fruits, this is not for you! But pregnant women and fussy kids like me (well once I was a kid ;) can have this kheer in abundant. This dessert packed with all the essential vitamins, minerals, fibre, calcium and protein.
My mom always adds saara paruppu / Chirongi Nuts, its her favourite. But I always filter the nuts through a sieve and just have plain kheer :D You can prepare this kheer beforehand and keep this chilled in fridge for couple of days.
Serves 4
You Will Need:
Approx. 1/2 kg of Carrot
A litre of Milk
1 1/2 Cups Sugar Approx. More or Less According to Your Liking
6 Cashew Nuts
4 Almonds, Not Blanched
3 Cardamom Pods / 1/2 tsp of Cardamom Powder
Few Saffron Strands, Optional
1/2 Cup of Chirongi Nuts / Saara Paruppu (Optional, Though I have not used it)
The Cooking:
Wash and peel the skin off the carrots and roughly chop them. In a pressure cooker place the chopped carrots and add a cup of water or till the carrots are almost submerged. Cook till one sound and take off heat. The carrots must be completely cooked. Once cooled, transfer the carrots along with the water to a blender and blend till smooth. Keep this aside.
In a mixer, grind together the cashew nuts, almonds and cardamom pods to a fine powder.
Gently boil the milk and add the puréed carrot. Whisk till everything is fully incorporated. Now add the sugar, cashew powder, saara paruppu and saffron strands. Bring it to a gentle boil and cook for couple of mins or till the kheer reaches the required consistency. If the kheer is too thick add little milk / water to thin it out.
Best served Chilled!
IMPORTANT POINTERS:
- You can also gently fry the saara paruppu in a tbsp of ghee till light brown and then add it to the kheer.
