Gajar Ka Halwa

Gajar ka Halwa is, without a doubt, our ultimate winter comfort dessert. The natural sweetness of carrots slowly cooked with milk, sugar, fragrant cardamom, and rich desi ghee creates something truly magical — a warm, indulgent treat that makes cold days feel cozy and festive. Every family has its own treasured version of this classic, and it remains one of the most beloved winter sweets across North India.

When the markets fill with fresh, juicy red carrots, it almost feels like an invitation to start making halwa. That irresistible urge to end every meal with something sweet suddenly becomes impossible to ignore — and Gajar ka Halwa always tops the list. I make mine using grated red carrots, milk, khoya, and sugar — a traditional, rich version that truly shines when those seasonal carrots are at their peak.

I also prepare another version that comes straight from my mother’s kitchen. Growing up, I was convinced she made the best Gajar ka Halwa in the world. She would slow-cook it patiently for hours on the lowest heat, allowing the flavors to deepen while the entire house filled with the most heavenly aroma. I still remember how she would freeze portions so we could enjoy it long after winter had passed — a small luxury we all looked forward to.

Deeply rooted in North Indian cuisine, this dessert has a rich yet slightly grainy texture and just the right level of sweetness. It’s comforting, nostalgic, and incredibly satisfying. Honestly, I’ve yet to meet an Indian who doesn’t love a good bowl of Gajar ka Halwa.

Garnished with slivers of almonds, pistachios, and other dry fruits, it tastes divine on its own. But if you really want to elevate it, serve it warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream — the contrast of hot and cold takes it to another level. I even have a richer version on this blog made with condensed milk, which creates an even creamier result.

One of the most beautiful things about this dish is its versatility. It can be enjoyed warm or chilled, simple or decadent, plain or paired with ice cream — and it never fails to bring comfort and joy.

Like most traditional dishes, every North Indian household adds its own personal touch, and even small tweaks can transform the flavor and texture. This recipe is my quick, reliable version — rich, satisfying, and consistently delicious.

I begin by sautéing grated carrots in ghee until they release their moisture. Once most of the water evaporates, I add milk and let everything cook slowly until the carrots become completely tender and the milk reduces to about one-quarter of its original volume. Then comes the khoya, followed by sugar and freshly ground cardamom powder. The mixture is cooked until it thickens beautifully and no excess liquid remains.

For garnish, I usually add sliced almonds and pistachios, sometimes cashews as well. Raisins are optional — some love them, others prefer to skip them — it really comes down to personal preference.

I make Gajar ka Halwa quite often, and it disappears just as quickly. If you’re cooking for a gathering, you can easily double or triple the recipe — just allow extra time for the milk to reduce properly.

Whenever possible, I choose the reddest, juiciest carrots for the best color and flavor. If those aren’t available, a tiny pinch of orange food color can enhance the appearance, though it’s completely optional. The taste remains just as wonderful without it.

Warm, fragrant, rich, and deeply nostalgic — this is winter in a bowl. I hope it brings as much comfort and happiness to your home as it always has to mine. 🥕✨

Rose Kulfi

The wonderful world of cold desserts and the version of ice creams served in India “Kulfi”. The word Kulfi or Qulfi is an Indian word derived from the Persian word “Qufli” which means “covered cup”. The dessert was likely originated during the era of the Mughal Empire in the 16th century. The mixture of milk, sugar and nuts. Kulfi is a gifted recipe from the Middle eastern travelers and settlers to India and neighboring countries. Along with so many architectural gifts to India, like the Taj mahal, which even till date makes our country so proud and has millions of visitors travel India only to see Taj Mahal once in their lifetime and so many gorgeous forts, along with Red Fort where the PM addresses the nation every year are all an awesome example of Mughal architectural skill.

Coming back the Kulfi, Indian cuisine were not aware of using Orange blossom, Rose water, saffron or a wide variety of dry fruits in the cuisine. The Mughals while introducing their cuisines and blending them with Indian flavors resulted in wide variety of Biryanis, Kebabs, curries and sweet dishes including Gulab Jamun, Jalebi and Rabri to name a few and of course, Kulfi.

This sweet dish is rich in flavor and can be made in various flavors and is always served cold. It can be served with Basil seeds or sabza that are soaked for an hour, as falooda. It can be flavored while serving as well. I usually like mine to be served with Rose syrup, or the popular Rooh Afza.

This particular recipe has Milk boiled till it thickens and reduces. Added Khoya and cooked further after adding sugar, cardamom powder, saffron, crushed Rose petals, Rose flavoring, a little red food color and Milk powder to thicken the mixture making the Kulfi more dense and creamier. You can always change the flavors in a Kulfi keeping the base the same.

I also use Silver leaf for decoration, but that’s always optional, but something that makes you home kulfi different from the restaurant and trust me, even better.

Khoya Naan

Every city/ place is has certain dishes that are extremely popular. But, a lot of times, that popularity is restricted to a certain community. Not that other communities would not be willing to try it, but to try some very authentic dish of a certain community, you need to be friends with people. Like Swami Narain Temple serves the world’s best Sambhar, for that irrespective of your religion, you have to just walk in one day and try out the Sambhar, which honestly is flavorful and pretty simple, but satisfies your soul. This statement was given by Mr. Parveez, who actually promised me 15 years ago that one day he will take me to one of the temples in Bengaluru and have me try their Sambhar, and with all that wait I think soon I will be seen walking in a Swami Narain Temple myself [just for love of Sambhar] 😉

Coming back to this dish. Khoya Naan and Chobe ke naan [which are made from sweet coconut] are very popular sweet dishes in Muslim community. I am sure loads of other communities enjoy them too, as long as they know about them. I had first tried them a few years after my marriage and though I am not a fan of coconut, but I did try them and they were fairly good and if you love coconut, you should try them. But if you like mawa’a or Khoya based sweets, you will definitely love this one. We would always buy them for USA as well and bring some for our friends here and everyone loved them. But, travelling back home starts reducing with time and that’s exactly what happened with us too. And the cravings fail to understand that. This is when people like me are always thankful for our extra ordinary taste buds and skills to cook.

So, one fine day when my cravings were over the top and I got restless, i got down to making my own. The outer layer is made from pie dough and it tasted great, but I believe the outer layer that they use in Bangalore is the puff pastry dough. I personally feel that using Pie dough is better than the latter, because mawa’a filling by itself is pretty heavy and puff pastry makes it even more buttery and heavy leaving a thick after taste on your tongue, which does not happen with the pie dough. Though I did make small balls and rolled each one around 6 inches in diameter and further put them together by spreading a little oil between each one. Further I rolled them like a cigar and cut them out equally and rolled them out again. This way I was able to make it more flaky and add more layers.

The filling is made with ghee, shredded khoya, sugar, heavy cream, Rose water, cardamom powder and saffron. This dish does not have any nuts. Its supposed to be crunchy, and sweet. This can be made a few days in advance and refrigerated as well. It should always be served warm, so you can always warm it up in the oven for around 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy!!!

Rabri

Rabri has been one of my most favorite sweet dishes ever. The thick mavaa and just perfect amount of sugar makes this dish delicious enough to die for. There is a very old shop/ small eatery in my hometown Jodhpur that is popular for Rabri, Lassi and Kulfi. They sell amazing Rabri which is something I have to eat on every visit. But, the sad part is that I visit my hometown only during the scorching summer days and as much as I love to try all my favorite foods, it kind of gets impossible to enjoy them the way i should. Rabri happens to be one of them. Summer days do not make you crave for milk based sweets.

Rabri is a gift of Mughals to India. Just like they brought in Gulab Jamuns and jalebis, or any other sweet dish that requires sugar syrup, they also brought in sweets that are made from milk solids and require thickening of the milk. Mughals were very dedicated to cooking good and rich food. The use of dry fruits, nuts, cream, Khoya, Kewra or screwpine water, orange blossoms or even rose water comes in from them. An amazing addition to India food, that foodies like me love reading about.

Anyways, I definitely cannot change the time I travel to Jodhpur and there was no way my cravings could be turned off. So I did what people like me are born to do…. Make my own Rabri. And boy, that was one of the best decisions I ever made. I still remember making it the first time, not being sure of whether the 2 liters of milk would go down the drain and saying my silent prayers that even if this Rabri came out half as good as what I like, I would be immensely happy. To my surprise, my hard work paid off so well that what I made was the best Rabri I have ever tasted. Amazingly delicious, thick, perfectly sweet and a teaspoon in your mouth makes you sweetish romantic.

The key to a perfect Rabri….apart from the ingredients, time, patience and a good cooking saucepan. You will need Milk, sugar, Kewra water and Khoya. You are required to use Whole Milk because you will have to take the cream off every 5-7 minutes and stir that cream into the milk. You need time to make rabri and undivided attention, which I believe we need each time we make any milk based sweet, but slightly more when it comes to Rabri. The milk has to be cooked on very low heat and needs constant stirring. It has to be cooked till it remains only quarter of the original quantity. In between that we add Khoya and sugar and cook it more since Khoya tends to make the milk thick, sugar on the other hand releases water. It needs constant stirring. Adding cardamom powder and Kewra water gives it an appetizing fragrance. You can also add saffron strands like I did, but its completely optional.

Rabri once cooked needs to cool down and refrigerated for at least 6-7 hours before you serve it. Rabri can be perfectly served by itself but also goes well with warm sweets, mostly Jalebi and Malpuas. This dish can be refrigerated for a week. Enjoy!!!

Khoya Seviyaan

Seviyaan are an integral part of Ramadan and Eid celebration in every Muslim. Seviyaan can be made in different ways and this is one of those ways. Though Vermicelli is made in almost all Indian Families, sweet and spicy, but there is something very special about “seviyaan Zarda” or sweet seviyaan that is cooked in Muslim families during the holidays. The taste is awesomely delicious and is always treated as something very special. I personally always looked forward to the seviyaan made by my mother every Eid.

I have a funny story with this dish. So, after I got married, during my initial “cook to impress hubby” days, I asked my mother for the seviyaan recipe. Back home, in India, people like my mother don’t cook with proper measurements, but its mostly a calculation done while cooking and always comes out perfect. So, my mother gave me the recipe based on her calculations, but what she didn’t realize is that I required perfect measurements. Anyways, I started cooking and was happy that it smelt and looked like what my mother makes. Once done, I decorated my seviyaan and started waiting for Mr. Parveez to get back from work. I felt he will be super impressed and happy and honestly, he did love the look but just as he took a spoon to dig on, he just couldn’t stop laughing. My seviyaan, once on room temperature got so hard that it if thrown at someone, the other person could get injured. Mr. Parveez though behaved like a good husband and tried his level best to break that rock solid seviyaan. That time I didn’t understand what went wrong but now I do. I put too much sugar and very little water . The imbalance of ingredients made the dish terrible.

After that episode, Mr. Parveez cooked seviyaan and since then seviyaan became his dish, which he would cook on Eid and other special days… and I always enjoyed them and so did my boys, till one day I learnt that seviyaan can also be made with Khoya and I felt that this recipe is pretty different from what Mr. Parveez cooks and it should come out good. I must say, this is one of the best kinds I have ever eaten.

Here the Vermicelli is cooked with milk solids and is very different from the seviyaan we normally make. The dish is cooked using Ghee and its a request that if you decide to make this dish Please use Ghee. No matter what oil you use, it will never make the dish appear, smell or taste this amazing unless you make it using Ghee. Please follow the recipe properly in order to get a perfect dish. This dish serves as a great sweet dish for parties, specially Eid and Ramadan. It can be prepared a day before and just needs to be reheated.

If you like this Please do have a look at Gulbahar as well.

Badaam Ka Halwa

After Moong Daal ka halwa, Badaam ka Halwa has been my favorite. I just love the flavor of Almonds with the grainy texture cooked in ghee with the sweetness that can melt hearts.

Halwa are the innovative creations a gift from Mughla or Persian rulers. The halwas were introduced in wide range from Moong Daal Halwa or Chana Daal Halwa to those made with Carrot and Bottle Gourd and if you can dare to be more exotic one is made with just Almonds. All Halwas are rich, full-of-ghee fudges and are cooked to perfection in milk solids and milk.

Badaam Ka Halwa of course, is the quintessential rich man’s dessert. The expensive sweet dish is cooked simply, adding richness with Saffron or Zaafraan and Milk solids like Khoya. A little flavor of Screwpine water or Kewra adds a lot fragrance when added with Saffron. Kewra and Zaafraan together not just enhance flavor and fragrance but also enhance color. I always love decorating my sweet dishes with Silver varq, and I always feel that silver varq adds a lot of glamour to a dish. And for something that looks beautiful always wins the first food serving battle of presentation, since it’s a feast for the eye. Of course, if the flavors aren’t doing justice to your taste buds, then the eye feasting doesn’t do much. In this case the sweet dish is very easy to make. All you have to pay attention to is adding the right quantity of ingredients at the right time. Almonds are known to absorb flavors while maintaining their own. So you wouldn’t want anything to be added in quantity more than required specially if things cannot be reversed. Because of the copious mounts of ghee and heavier grain, this Badaam Halwa is basically a winter delicacy.

Halwas made using vegetables were invented in the kitchens of the Mughlia Empire when the Mughal culture was at its zenith of cooking. The use of lavish Almonds, pistachios, cashews , walnuts and saffron added to those delicious inventions made them more desirable and put them under the category of celebration food. Though I am not a big fan of dishes like Apple Halwa and a new known mango Halwa. I feel a hint of those fruits with Flour or Semolina and serving it as a Halwa is fine. But the moment the entire halwa is made using a single fruit, as much as people feel its something innovative, my personal opinion differs. I feel a hint of a fruit gives out lovely flavors as opposed to an entire fruit that might leave you with a very strong taste for hours and I am someone who enjoys a mix of flavors in a bite than one flavor over powering the others.

Coming back to Badaam ka halwa. This sweet dish is rich and extremely loved in every family I ever made it for.

Malpua and Rabri

Rabri and Malpua go hand in hand for marwaris, specially for Jodhpuris. I remember my father and my maternal grandmother being huge fan of Malpuas. Though I have never liked them much, for their bonding relationship with sugar syrup and just like Jalebis, Imartis and Bengali sweets, malpuas also happened to be a sweet dish that I never tried. But, I was always a huge fan of Rabri. In fact, there is a very famous shop in Jodhpur, by the clock tower, an important stop for all tourists, that is popular for its lassi, kulfi and Rabri and every time I traveled to Jodhpur, that would be on my eating out list.

As for the history of Malpua, first reference of this sweet dish was made in the Rigveda, as ‘Apupa’. The recipe of Apupa was something that uses barley flour made in form of flat cakes, deep fried in ghee and then dipped in honey before serving.

Rabri seems to be connected with Bengal because of its flavor resemblance being close to Basundi. Its made by over boiling of milk on low heat, until it becomes dense and pale yellow in color.

I remember when I was 15, a family friend’s daughter, almost 10 years older than me, soon to be married. She loved to cook and would often come to see my mom and would also showcase her cooking skills. She would come to our house very often and she once made Khoye ke malpua and all I saw was 2 people busy making Malpuas and I never gathered the courage to go and peep to even see what was going on. All I saw was my Father and maternal Grandmother, both diabetic, hogging on to those Malpuas before anyone could stop them. They offered it to me and with the look of the dripping sugar syrup, it was a NO from my side. I then saw someone bring in Rabri from my favorite store and I was more than happy eating my plain Rabri. Now since, I have never been a big fan of Malpuas and Mr. Parveez never mentioned it either, it never occurred to me that I should try making them at home. In addition to that, I don’t know why but I always felt that making Malpuas must be too much work and I kind of never felt the need to even try it.

One day, we happened to be watching a Food channel where a food blogger went to Mumbai and showed this guy making big size Malpuas being thrown in the Kadai with boiling ghee and further dipped in the sugar syrup and being served straight away with cold Rabri and Mr. Parveez looked so impressed. So, I just asked him, “Do you like it?’ and he said, “yes”. With me that was more than enough to try making this out.

I checked with a family friend who got me a recipe from one of Jodhpur’s authentic Malpua maker. Sometimes people share secrets, they one have to be sure that no one is taking their business away, second, you need to contact through the right source and third and most important, you just have to be sweet when you ask, and mostly people fail to do the third thing. He never gave me the exact measurements though, but when you cook, ingredients are usually enough for you to crack a recipe because even if you use the exact same measurements, the dish would be completely different when made by 2 different people. I always tell everyone I teach, Don’t learn, get inspired. Learning while copying to do the same, makes you good, But Learning while getting inspired makes you outstanding. Never give up on being unique.

Now my first goal was to work on the Rabri, of course personal reasons. So, I started working on it, it was a slow process and the first time I made it, I was restless because I thought I was doing something wrong and its taking too long, but after that I was a pro and I can now cook 4 dishes the same time as I make Rabri. and, when I tasted it, I was so happy with myself, it tasted much nicer than the Rabri from my favorite sweet store in Jodhpur.

Now the Malpuas, they were much easier than I thought. Few ingredients, paying attention, and your Malpuas are ready to be served. They are very much like pancakes. My first attempt made them a little thick, the second time, I mixed in more milk trying to make them more thin. Try taking a good non stick pan to reduce the quantity of ghee you take.

Rabri can be refrigerated for up to a week. Malpua batter can also be refrigerated for up to 3-4 days. It tends to thicken a little while being refrigerated, you can always add a little milk tablespoon by tablespoon to make the consistency thinner.

I have out up ways and pics of both the thick Malpua and the thin Malpua. You can see both ways and pick your favorite. Though I have given the recipe of Rabri after the Malpua, but its always recommended that you make the Rabri few hours, if not a day before and refrigerate it. The Malpua needs to be hot and the Rabri needs to be chilled when served.

Decorate with silver leaf, crushed nuts and roses or anyway you like or just plain…the taste is so good that it will be loved and appreciated any which way. Enjoy!!!

Kala Jamun

Kala Jamun is a distant cousin of Gulab jamun. It was first prepared in Mughal Era in India, introduced by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan by his personal chef. The difference between Gulab jamun and Kala Jamun is the color and texture. While Gulab Jamuns are golden, Kala Jamun have a dark color with a shade slightly away from Black.

Its always advisable to use good quality Khoya and Paneer. Always use best quality khoya available at dairy. Mr. Parveez and my boys love home-made desserts. In fact the most awesome part that I don’t even eat any sweets that are dipped in sugar syrup, but Mr. Parveez stopped eating the sweets from sweet stores which is a huge compliment for me. Our guests always wonder if the mithai we serve, is from a store. Actually, I never thougth that making certain sweet dishes at home could be so easy, enjoyable and emotionally rewarding. And now, I just love making Indian Mithai, Cakes, Pastries and Pies, and making them is always my “happy time”. In fact, I can always hop into the kitchen happily to make mithai if asked.

Though I have never been a fan of either but, When I was a kid, I often used to get confused of what exactly is the difference between Kala Jmaun and Gulab Jamun and for the longest time, I believed that Kala Jamun was Gulab Jamun with black color. i only found the difference when I got down to making them.

Like I said above, dry kala jamun is a distant cousin of gulab jamun  and it uses paneer, suji, sugar and sometimes also uses a  dash of dry fruit stuffed inside balls. Though I never stuffed any in mine, because that would make them close to mewa baati and probably a little heavy too. Gulab Jamun dough does not have any paneer or sugar, where as the dough of Kala Jamun requires a little sugar. Gulab Jamuns are usually served with a little syrup, but these tend to be dry, so they require a little sugar boost from within. Kla Jamun also needs to be fried for longer on low to medium flame, without burning them to give the beautiful dark color.

Gulab jamun dough does not need much kneading but this dough has to be kneaded really well. The texture can be obtained only with a good dough, that has been kneaded well. You can also use a mixer if you find it difficult to do it by hand.

Keep the kala jamun soaked in a sugar syrup for at least 3-4 hours before serving, refrigerating them id preferred too.

If you want to make it as dry kala jamun, then once the jamuns are soaked well in syrup, you can take them out of the syrup and store it in a container or serve. They keep good easily for a week the refrigerator. I feel they are one of the best recipes to take to a friend’s house or as a goody bag after a party.

Pistachio Khoya Kulfi

The wonderful world of cold desserts and the version of ice creams served in India “Kulfi”. The word Kulfi or Qulfi is an Indian word derived from the Persian word “Qufli” which means “covered cup”. The dessert was likely originated during the era of the Mughal Empire in the 16th century. The mixture of milk, sugar and nuts. Kulfi is a gifted recipe from the Middle eastern travelers and settlers to India and neighboring countries. Along with so many architectural gifts to India, like the Taj mahal, which even till date makes our country so proud and has millions of visitors travel India only to see Taj Mahal once in their lifetime and so many gorgeous forts, along with Red Fort where the PM addresses the nation every year are all an awesome example of Mughal architectural skill.

Coming back the Kulfi, Indian cuisine were not aware of using Orange blossom, Rose water, saffron or a wide variety of dry fruits in the cuisine. The Mughals while introducing their cuisines and blending them with Indian flavors resulted in wide variety of Biryanis, Kebabs, curries and sweet dishes including Gulab Jamun, Jalebi and Rabri to name a few and of course, Kulfi.

This sweet dish is rich in flavor and can be made in various flavors and is always served cold. It can be served with Basil seeds or sabza that are soaked for an hour, as falooda. It can be flavored while serving as well. I usually like mine to be served with Rose syrup, or the popular Rooh Afza.

This particular recipe has Milk boiled till it thickens and reduces. Added Khoya and cooked further after adding sugar, cardamom powder, saffron, crushed Pistachio, Pistachio flavoring, a little green color and Milk powder to thicken the mixture making the Kulfi more dense and creamier. You can always change the flavors in a Kulfi keeping the base the same.

I also use Silver leaf for decoration, but that’s always optional, but something that makes you home kulfi different from the restaurant and trust me, even better.

Moong Daal Burfi

Moong daal ki burfi. It’s one of my all time favorites. This dish takes me back to my childhood days. This sweet was an Eid special for us. Every Eid, it was a tradition that went just perfect with Eid Biryani, kheer, kebabs, seviyaan, launji, curries etc. For a long time, I believed it’s an Eid dish. I guess these are a few perks of being raised in a diverse culture and having friends from all religions.

Traditionally, Moong daal Burfi is actually called Moong Daal Chakki in my home town Jodhpur. Its a sweet which is loved by the masses and has a chunky, sweet and filling. It can be made a few days in advance if you want to prepare it ahead of time for a party. It makes an excellent party favors too.