This Instant Pot Carrot Halva recipe, or Gajjar Halwa, is a great Indian dessert that benefits from being made in an Instant Pot. Sweet, redolent with cardamom and just delightful. Much better than the restaurant Gajjar ka Halva that is mainly sugar and this version is healthier for you too!
Why You’re Going To Love This Halva Recipe
- Fast. With the help of your Instant Pot , you can make this Halva recipe in less than 30 minutes.
- Easy. A simple pour and cook recipe .
- Delicious. A traditional Indian dessert that will have you wanting to try a variety of new Indian recipes .
I have this wonderful memory from childhood It was a dessert made out of carrots, with a lovely milky taste, rich with cardamom and with the occasional bite of a sweet raisin or cashew. It’s a special memory and one I cherish.
But there are three problems with making it. One, it takes literally hours to make. Two, it needs a special milk solid called Khoya which isn’t widely available in the States. And three, it has a ton of sugar in it.
Not always having the time to track down the khoya, nor the desire to consume all that sugar, I had to come up with a different way of approaching this.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Ghee
- Raisins
- Cashews - raw and unroasted
- Carrots- shredded
- Whole Milk
- Splenda - Truvia or sugar
- Powdered cashews- you do this to add a little thickness to the milk
- Ground Cardamom
How To Make This Halva Recipe
- Melt ghee in your Instant Pot, and then add the cashews and raisins. Fry them until the cashews are golden brown.
- Add all other ingredients except cardamom and cook at High Pressure for 10 minutes. Let it release pressure naturally.
- Open up the lid and do not freak out at the curdled milk. It will homogenize shortly. Just stir it up really well.
- Smoosh the carrots together a bit, and cook on Sauté for a few minutes to thicken the mixture.
- Add the cardamom and let it rest for a while to thicken up. This can be eaten hot, cold, or at room temperature.
- Feel free to pour in a little heavy cream or half and half if you’re trying to add fat to your diet–or taste to your life.
Tips And Tricks
Let me warn you: this recipe works, but when you open the pot you’re going to be horrified and think you messed up because everything looks like a big curdled mess.
It’s not.
Milk separates under pressure. But to me, this is what helps thicken up the final product. It actually acts like an ersatz version of Khoya, which is milk solids with the water evaporated out of it.
Just keep calm, stir it well, and you’ll find the milk solids get incorporated back into the dish, and thickens up the final product.
More Delicious Recipes To Try
- Looking for another Indian inspired Instant Pot Dish? Try my Sweet Corn Chicken Soup.
- If you’d like desserts that taste like you spent hours, when your Instant Pot did the work you’ll love my Instant Pot Apple Cake.
- My Low Carb Pumpkin Pie Pudding is another Instant Pot dessert that is great for those on Keto or counting carbs.
Halva Recipe | Gajjar Halwa
Equipment
- Instant Pot
- Measuring Cups
Ingredients
- ▢ 2 tablespoons ( 2 tablespoons ) Ghee
- ▢ 2 tablespoons ( 2 tablespoons ) Raisins
- ▢ 2 tablespoons ( 2 tablespoons ) cashews, , raw and unroasted
- ▢ 2 cups ( 473.18 g ) Carrots , shredded
- ▢ 1 cup ( 244 g ) Whole Milk
- ▢ 1/4 cup ( 50 g ) Splenda, , Truvia or sugar
- ▢ 2 tablespoons ( 2 tablespoons ) powdered cashews , (you do this to add a little thickness to the milk)
- ▢ 1/4 teaspoon ( 0.25 teaspoon ) Ground Cardamom
Instructions
- Melt ghee in your Instant Pot, and then add the cashews and raisins. Fry them until the cashews are golden brown.
- Add all other ingredients except cardamom and cook at High Pressure for 10 minutes. Let it release pressure naturally.
- Open up the lid and do not freak out at the curdled milk. It will homogenize shortly. Just stir it up really well.
- Smoosh the carrots together a bit, and cook on Sauté for a few minutes to thicken the mixture.
- Add the cardamom and let it rest for a while to thicken up. This can be eaten hot, cold, or at room temperature.
- Feel free to pour in a little heavy cream or half and half if you’re trying to add fat to your diet–or taste to your life.
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Indian Instant Pot , Keto Instant Pot, Instant Pot Fast and Easy , Healthy Instant Pot & Vegetarian Instant Pot .
Don’t forget to check out my otherBest-selling Instant Pot Cookbooks!
Indian Instant Pot , Keto Instant Pot, Instant Pot Fast and Easy , Healthy Instant Pot & Vegetarian Instant Pot .
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Halva Recipe | Gajjar Halwa
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons Ghee
- 2 tablespoons Raisins
- 2 tablespoons cashews, raw and unroasted
- 2 cups Carrots shredded
- 1 cup Whole Milk
- 1/4 cup Splenda, Truvia or sugar
- 2 tablespoons powdered cashews (you do this to add a little thickness to the milk)
- 1/4 teaspoon Ground Cardamom
Instructions
- Melt ghee in your Instant Pot, and then add the cashews and raisins. Fry them until the cashews are golden brown.
- Add all other ingredients except cardamom and cook at High Pressure for 10 minutes. Let it release pressure naturally.
- Open up the lid and do not freak out at the curdled milk. It will homogenize shortly. Just stir it up really well.
- Smoosh the carrots together a bit, and cook on Sauté for a few minutes to thicken the mixture.
- Add the cardamom and let it rest for a while to thicken up. This can be eaten hot, cold, or at room temperature.
- Feel free to pour in a little heavy cream or half and half if you’re trying to add fat to your diet–or taste to your life.
Halva Recipe | Gajjar Halwa https://twosleevers.com/pressure-cooker-carrot-halva-dessert/
There’s a great recipe for a copycat Noosa Yogurt out there, and everyone who has made it seems very happy with it. Unfortunately that recipe, like the yogurt, has more sugar than I can eat. It’s also for a very large portion size and I wanted something smaller and less sugared. Additionally I wanted all the fat and protein I could squeeze in there. So I whipped up this delicious Smooth Cardamom Yogurt recipe as a result.
Smooth Cardamom Yogurt | Noosa Copycat Recipe
So I decided to try with Fairlife whole milk and half and half, use Splenda for sweetening, and to add a sweeter and slightly different taste, flavor it with powdered cardamom. The second time I made it I used apple pie spice, and that was delicious too. But the cardamom certainly adds a very Indian flavor to the yogurt and my family seems to like that quite well.
I let it set in my Instant Pot on the yogurt setting for 8 hours. I also added 1/2 teaspoons of honey per cup for flavor, but you could omit this if you prefer. You’ll notice I don’t follow the “heat to 180 degrees and then cool” steps that most Instant Pot yogurt settings ask for. It still works for me.
LOOKING FOR MORE WAYS TO SATISFY YOUR SWEET TOOTH? CHECK OUT MYKETO COOKIES RECIPE!
Okay y’all, let’s be honest. This Smooth Cardamom Yogurt recipe doesn’t taste exactly like Noosa to me. It’s not as rich, it’s not as tart, it’s not as sweet. So perhaps I should call this my " I can TOTALLY believe it’s not Noosa" recipe?
But I tell you what, it’s pretty dang fantastic. We like it better than Greek yogurt eaten plain, and it has a wonderful creamy, smooth texture that I would think kids would love. We’ve been eating this Smooth Cardamom Yogurt every night, and the protein and touch of sweet are very satisfying. Do let me know how it turns out if you make it!
?Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below! Just click on the stars in the recipe card to rate.
Smooth Cardamom Yogurt
Ingredients
- ▢ 2 cups ( 488 g ) Whole Milk
- ▢ 1/2 cup ( 119 g ) Heavy Whipping Cream
- ▢ 5 tablespoons ( 5 tablespoons ) Splenda , or sugar substitute of choice
- ▢ 1/2 tablespoon ( 0.5 tablespoon ) Unflavored Gelatin
- ▢ 2-3 tablespoons ( 2 tablespoons ) Full-Fat Greek Yogurt , as starter
- ▢ 1/2 teaspoon ( 0.5 teaspoon ) Ground Cardamom , cinnamon, or apple pie spice or other sweet seasoning of your choice
- ▢ 1 1/2 teaspoons ( 1.5 teaspoons ) Honey , (optional)
Instructions
- Heat the milk and cream in the microwave for two minutes.
- Put some of the warm milk in the gelatin and mix until smooth, and then add this mixture to the milk and cream.
- Add the starter yogurt and the powdered cardamom and stir or whisk until everything has been well-incorporated.
- Set your Instant Pot to its Yogurt setting, which may be 8 hours by default.
- Once it’s done, add in the Splenda and honey, stir everything together. Don’t add the sweetener before it’s set, as it tends to make the yogurt less firm.
- Let it sit in the fridge for 6-8 hours otherwise it will be runny. Gelatin needs to be cooled before it will set so do not be in a tearing rush to eat it. It’s totally worth the wait.
