Carrot Halwa and Beetroot Halwa – are the most popular, easy , quick to prepare and tasty dessert / sweet dish for all occasions. Though I occasionally prepare beetroot halwa, I keep preparing carrot halwa as along with the rest of my family, it is my favourite too. Now, what is Sunday Monday?! And, Halwa Balls?! Well, for that, you will have to scroll down a bit to the ‘Carrot Beetroot Halwa Balls stories’ section!!!
A perfect and one of the most loved sweet with a twist, for this festive Navratri…
Wishing all my dear friends celebrating the festival, a very happy Dusshera 🙂
Few other dessert recipes for this festive season
Quick and easy Coconut Balls
Easy, Yummy and healthy Oats Laddoo
Other carrot based recipes :
Carrot Neer Dose / Carrot Crepe
Total Time: 65 minutes
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 35 minutes
Makes: 20
Ingredients:
Coconut Flakes: 1 cup
Carrot Halwa:
Grated carrot: 3 cups
Sugar: 1 ¼ cup
Cashew: Few
Raisens: Few
Ghee: 2 tbsp.
Salt: A pinch
Cardamom: ½ tsp.
Beetroot Halwa:
Grated Beetroot: 2 cups
Sugar: 1 ¼ th cup
Cashew: Few
Raisns: Few
Ghee: 2 tbsp.
Salt: A Pinch
Cardamom: ½ tsp.
Quick Video :
Method:
- In a pan add 2 tbsp. of ghee and fry the cashew nuts and raisens until the cashew nuts become light golden brown. Remove from the pan and keep aside
- In the same pan, add the grated carrot and fry until water evaporates. This might take about 6 to 8 minutes of time. Ensure that the carrot do not get burnt in the process
- Now add sugar and mix well. Cook for about 5-10 minutes on medium heat
- Keep mixing occasionally. Once it is cooked (when you feel that the mixing gets harder and the halwa is thickened) you can see that the sugar has bound the grated carrot together, giving it a glossy appearance. Now add the powdered cardamom, a pinch of salt and ghee roasted dry fruits. If you need you may add ghee here. More ghee, makes the halwa more tastier. Here I shall not add more since I have to make balls and I don’t want the halwa to be too liquidy. It is then time to remove halwa from heat
- Carrot halwa is ready to serve
- Repeat the above process for beetroot halwa
- Once both the halwa are ready, it would be the time to make Halwa balls
- Take both the halwa in bowls. Take a bowl of coconut flakes and transfer it to a plate
- Grease your palms and transfer a spoonful of carrot halwa in your palm and gently make a ball. Carefully dent and create a well in it. Add a pinch of beetroot halwa to it and close. Roll the ball over the bed of coconut flakes and transfer it to a plate. Next, take a spoonful of beetroot halwa and make a ball out of it. Make a dent and insert a pinch of carrot halwa to it and close. Roll it over the coconut flakes and keep aside
- Repeat the above step alternatively with the remaining halwa. Carrot Beetroot Halwa Balls are ready to relish!!!
Note:
- The outer layer of coconut flakes binds the halwa together and makes it less stickier, thus letting you enjoy the halwa without any assistance and without greasing your fingers
- Coconut flakes also adds to the overall taste, giving it an altogetherly new dimension
- Those who are vegan, can skip the ghee part completely to make this recipe vegan. As I wanted to give the halwa the right consistency so that it can be bound together to make balls, the usage of ghee is very less here and restricted only to frying the dry fruits to be added to halwa
- As I had just enough stock of beetroot left with me, the quantity of beetroot halwa is lesser than that of carrot here. This in no way affects the recipe here, but yes, the count of halwa balls with beetroot halwa as the outer layer will be lesser as compared to the ones with carrot halwa as the outer layer
Carrot Beetroot Halwa Balls Stories :
Carrot Halwa? Beetroot Halwa?
Well, it was my daughter’s birthday and we had a small party cum lunch for the celebration. And I wanted to include a different dish in the ‘Desserts’ section, which is easy to prepare (you see, I had to take care of the starters and main course too!), yet something unique. My husband’s instant suggestion was – Carrot Halwa, as he believed that it is something which I can never go wrong with, besides meeting my criteria and most importantly, our daughter loves it the most. However, just then, our daughter suggested Beetroot Halwa !!! Well, now you might have vaguely started to guess. Yes, I decided to prepare both. But I didn’t want to simply present them as two different desserts over the buffet spread. And then I decided to bring them together ala Kala Jamun. Both the halwa have vibrant and contrasting colours. However, there remained a question if the two halwa, which otherwise taste as differently as their colours, blend well when bound together?
Contrasting colours ? Contrasting tastes?
To answer these questions, I decided to have a small trial round. So I cooked both the halwa (this will perhaps go down in the history as the lowest ever quantity of halwa prepared by me) in a short time. I took a small quantity of carrot halwa and made a small ball. Next,I created a cavity and placed a small quantity of beetroot halwa in it and wrapped it. I then rolled the ball over coconut flakes to give it a rich look and presented it to my family. My husband was confused at the first glance. Knowing me by now, his first bite is always in a hunt to find the ingredients (and not the taste !!!). He said, Ok, I can see a layer of coconut flakes wrapping my dear carrot halwa and took a bite. After a brief pause, there was a smile which said – Got ya!!! He saw the beetroot halwa filling, now peeping out and couldn’t believe that something like this is even possible. He loved the combined taste so much that he was disappointed to find only a couple of balls made !!!
Sunday-Monday?
Well, now the question arose, should beetroot halwa go in or the carrot halwa. I instantly remembered a reversible saree that my mom had long ago, and it carried this name! It was a unique saree which my dad had purchased for her from one of his Pune visits and I remember her wearing it reversibly. And so, I decided to have both of them on similar lines – one halwa ball with carrot halwa stuffed inside beetroot halwa ball and vise versa. Thus arrived a colourful dessert platter for the buffet, which my dad promptly named as the Swarovski crystal platter !!!
The dessert was loved and appreciated by all the guests and in no time, it got over. Having liked by all, I decided to repeat it for the family during this Navratri.
Sooper idea and very creative dessert
thank you so much