While milk and ghee (clarified butter) are traditional ingredients in Afghan cooking, they have been replaced with alternative choices in this vegan version of a classic dessert served in Afghanistan and throughout many parts of the Middle East, including India. Still, the result is a tasty, brightly colored carrot pudding dotted with nuts and raisins and a hint of exotic spice. Serve the pudding warmed, room temperature, or chilled.

Note: You can boil the carrots in water as well, milk is not necessary to boil it in. However, if you choose water then it's better to use more milk powder (and/or paneer) as it'll need some milky'ness)

Ingredients

• 2 lbs carrots, peeled and grated
• ½ cup butter
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups milk powder (optional)
• 1 cup paneer (optional)
• 1 tsp rosewater
• ¼ cup almonds, chopped
• ¼ cup pistachios, chopped

Method

Step 1

Peele and grate the bag of carrots and add them to a pot with milk. The quantity of milk can depend on how much you feel you need. Don’t forget, the carrots release their own juice/water too, so start with 1 cup of milk and add more if you need it as you go along. Boil till the carrots are really soft. Keep it relatively moist but dry it out a bit if it’s very watery.

Step 2

Then add between butter and sugar to the boiled carrots. Go by the amount of carrots, and how sweet you want it. Mix this all well.

Step 3

Crumble the paneer (home made is best) and add it to the halwa and stir. You can skip this step and just add more milk powder instead. Paneer isn’t necessary.

Step 4

Finally add the dried fruits, rose water and laachi powder. Stir well (keep it on heat till any excessive moisture has evaporated).