Carrot dessert

There are times when you really like a dish, get the recipe and make some changes to add your own touch. The result? Some times, a wonderful tasty dish, albeit different from the original thing you planned to make. It could be just the addition of a new ingredient or changing the quantity of an existing ingredient.

I had this really tasty carrot kheer my friend made and was happy when she said that it is a really simple and easy to make dish. The original kheer she made was of liquidy consistency. I wanted a dessert which was more pudding -ish or custard-ish. So here is my recipe for carrot pudding?/custard?/ thick kheer? Let's just call it carrot dessert! :)

What you need:
Carrots - 3
Milk - about 3 cups
Cashews - 8 to 10
Custard powder(vanilla flavor) - 1 tbsp
Vanilla essence - 2 to 3 drops
Saffron strands - 4 to 5 (optional)
Ghee 1 tsp
Chopped Almonds, raisins and/or any other nuts you like in your dessert
Sugar - as per your taste, depending on how sweet or fresh your carrots are :)

Method:

1. Dice the carrots into big chunks.
2. Pressure cook the carrots with 1 cup milk and the cashews. Once cool, puree the carrot+cashew+milk mixture
3. Dissolve the custard powder in some cold milk.
4. Heat ghee in a pan and fry the almonds and raisins if you are using them
5. Add the milk and bring to a boil.
6. Add saffron.
7. Then add the carrot paste and cook for 5-10 mins on medium heat.
8. Add the custard powder+milk mixture and let it cook till the mixture thickens.
9. Add sugar and vanilla essence
10. Check taste and add more sugar if needed
11. Chill in the refrigerator before serving.

Serve chilled, garnished with a few almond slivers.