27th May 2009 - Dinner - Gajar ka Halwa, Aloo Gravy & Paraathe

In order to celebrate my return to cooking, and the Champions League final, and the fact that it is 27th May, I decided to go for a slightly more ambitious menu. I had wanted to make Gajar ka Halwa since many days, so I went ahead and purchased carrots (die Karotten) and condensed milk (Kondensmilch). 

What?

I decided to make Gajar ka Halwa, Potatoes with a richer gravy (which meant that I added onions, tomatoes and a small piece of carrot while cooking) and Parathe. 

I have special associations with Gajar ka Halwa, since it was the first one I cooked myself (not counting Chaai and Maggi), back when I was in Class VII. Also, this is the only dish I have made for guests.

How did it look?

There you go:

Fresh carrots! Notice the distinct orange colour vis-à-vis the red ones we get in India

All grated and ready to cook

The finished product

Aloo gravy

Paraathey

Improvements

• I erred on the side of caution when adding milk to the Halwa, due to which a lot of milk was left even after cooking it. As a result, I had to boil the whole thing for a long time to reduce the milk, but this excessive boiling made the carrots slightly soggy. Also, the initial plan to add condensed milk later got trashed.
• Got slightly over zealous while adding sugar. A little less would have sufficed.
• Made sure that the mistakes of yesterday's Parathey were not repeated. So, all in all, the Parathey turned out really well.
• Sabji turned out pretty well. I wanted a rich flavour with thicker gravy, so I added onions and tomatoes too (the bare-bones version uses only potatoes). Also, added, apart from the standard Haldi-Mirch and Hing, some lahsun ki chatni, pepper, oregano and chopped green chillies for the fresh and hot flavour. The only problem was that I added a bit too much water, so had to boil this one too, due to which the potatoes got sort of mashed up, but it tasted nice at the end, so I wasn't complaining!