Beetroot halwa

Ingredients:

• Beetroot grated – 2 cups heaped
• Sugar -3/4 cup
• Milk – 2 cups
• Cardamom powder -1/4 tsp
• Almonds/Badam – 10
• Cashew nuts – few
• Ghee – 1/4 cup
• Unsweetened Khoa/khoya – 100 grams(optional)

Directions:

1. Wash, peel the skin and grate beetroot.
2. Put almonds in boiling water(blanch almonds), remove the skin and pat it dry. Cut it into thin strips.
3. Heat a tsp of ghee, fry cashew nuts and keep it aside.
4. In the same pan, heat a tbsp of ghee, add grated beetroot and fry it till the raw smell goes.
5. Then add 2 cups of milk and cook the beetroot on low flames, stirring in between. Cook till the beetroot becomes soft and all the milk evaporates.
6. Then add sugar, khoa and cook till sugar dissolves and gets mixed well with the beetroot.
7. Add cardamom powder, remaining ghee and cook for a few more seconds.
8. Garnish with cashew nuts, almonds and mix well. Serve hot or warm.
9. Note -Khoa is prepared by boiling milk in a heavy bottomed pan in low flames until it is thickened. I boiled 2 cups of milk in low flames until it thickened. You get ready made khoa also.Khoa is added just to give richness to the halwa and it is totally optional.
10. Using full fat milk gives richness to the halwa.
11. You can add blanched almonds or roasted almonds.
12. You can grade beetroot using the grater with fine holes or bigger ones according to your preferences.

"Now the delicious beetroot halwa is ready to serve"