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Instant Pot Gajar Halwa – Vegan Carrot Halwa Recipe. Carrot Halwa is an Indian dessert, a flourless Carrot Cake Crumble/pudding that is spiced with cardamom and served during festivals. Vegan Gluten-free Soy-free Recipe. Jump to Recipe
Gajar Halwa is a popular Winter-Spring dessert in Northern India. My Dad’s fave version has grated carrots that get slow roasted in a skillet over hours to become almost candied and the mix is more like a soft crumble. See my Stove top carrot halwa version here. This Instant pot version cooks within minutes and works amazingly.
The Carrots get roasted with sugar for a bit then pressure cooked, then roasted again to dry them up. This Instant Pot Halwa will cook to a softer more pudding like state, and gets close to the stove roasted one after sitting for a bit to cool. I use purple and red carrots for the gorgeous color that would normally show up only on long roasting. To make this nut-free, use sunflower seed meal and omit the cashews. Make this delicious dessert for Holi (the festival of colors coming in March) or valentines day (use more purple carrots!) 🥕🥕. See video above the Recipe.
More Instant Pot Indian Recipes
- Instant Pot Vegan Butter Chickin(soycurls). GF
- Lentil Veggie Dhansak – Lentil Veggie Stew in IP. GF
- Kohlapuri Veggies – Veggies in sesame coconut sauce GF
- Lentil Sweet Potato Soup GF
- Aloo Palak Dal- Potato Spinach Lentils in IP. GF
- Chana Saag – Chickpea Spinach Curry GF
- Instant Pot Chickin Saag with soy curls.GF
I know what you are thinking, that the Serving size should be 1 ;). Well, the 4 serves are dessert portions. Serve after a good meal! If you make this, do let me know how it turned out! Subscribe to My Youtube Channel for more videos.
Video:
Instant Pot Gajar Halwa - Indian Carrot Halwa Vegan Dairyfree Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp vegan butter or oil
- 3 tbsp cashews
- 3 tbsp chopped dates, or raisins, or currants
- 2.5 cups of shredded carrots, rainbow carrots or red or a combination of purple and red
- 4 tbsp sugar
- 1/8 to 1/4 tsp salt, use 1/4 tsp if using oil instead of vegan butter
- 1/4 cup almond flour/meal
- 1/4 cup non dairy milk such as almond or soy, , use 1/2 cup if your carrots are not very moist
- 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
- pistachios or cashews for garnish
Instructions
- Put the Instant pot on Saute (Stove top pressure cooker over medium heat). Add vegan butter or oil.
- Add cashews and cook until golden. Stir occasionally. About 2 minutes. Add dates/raisins and cook for a few seconds.
- Add carrots, sugar, salt and almond flour/ meal and mix well. Cook for 2-3 minute. Add non dairy milk and mix in.
- Close the lid. Pressure cook for 6 to 7 minutes pressure cook/manual button, hi in Instant pot. (3 mins over medium heat in stove top pressure cooker). Let the pressure release naturally. Open the lid, Mix in the cardamom. Taste and adjust sweet if needed.
- Put the pot on Saute and cook the mixture for 4 to 7 mins to roast it well and to dry out the liquid. Stir well frequently to avoid sticking. At this point you can add another 2 tsp vegan butter (This helps with the texture)and mix in. Once the mixture starts to stick and is dry-ish, press cancel and let it sit. The pot will be hot for a while, let the carrot mixture slow cook in the heat for 15 mins or so. Stir once in between. When the mixture is warm-cool, serve, or store refrigerated. Garnish with chopped cashews or pistachios to serve chilled or warmed . Stove top version here.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Would it work in a regular pot onstead of a pressure cooker? If yes how would it work and how long would it take?
Yes, the stove top (skillet) version is linked on the post. see https://fettabbau-trim.today/2016/09/vegan-carrot-halwa-gajar-halwa-recipe.html%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
I tried this and it was too dry–burned to the bottom of the Instant Pot and wouldn’t seal. I would definitely recommend adding liquid.
it depends on the carrots i guess. Mine doesnt dry out. you can use a 1/2 cup milk.
When i made the video, I reshot the almond meal part as i had forgotten to add that, so the mixture dried out for another 2-3 mins and then i closed the lid and it still worked. I have noticed that sometimes the IP takes longer to come to pressure for various reasons. So if your unit by your experience takes longer or generally needs some extra liquid, then add some more. the extra liquid can be cooked out later on saute.
Maybe try doing the pot in pot method. You could put a couple of cups of water in the bottom of your IP and put a stainless steel ring or trivel and then put a small stainless steel mixing bowl on top of that.
Thank you for putting in all the awesome blogs for Recipe it help us to search directly what we are looking for. Keep it up!
I appreciate it!
Keep up the good work
Just Amazing information.
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Great work
I’m honoured
Love this video and recipe. Sharing to my page and group on fb.
Can you provide a method for cooking that’s not in the Instant Pot, and perhaps just stovetop?
Thanks!
its linked inthe post in the recipe notes and above as well. Stove top version==> https://fettabbau-trim.today/2016/09/vegan-carrot-halwa-gajar-halwa-recipe.html%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
I absolutely LOVED carrot halwa, especially when made fresh at Indian restaurants! I had no idea that they were made with butter, so I felt a bit more guilty about it after I found out. Thank you for this incredible vegan alternative! <3
This looks delicious and I would like to try it but I find the amount of liquid is very low for an IP. Is 1/4 almond milk cup correct? Or do the carrots provide enough liquid to bring the pot to full pressure?
The carrots release moisture during cooking so it works out fine. If you see the video, right after opening , there is some moisture with the carrots about 2 tbsp or so. Thats why it gets sauteed for a few minutes to cook that out. If you feel like your carrots arent juicy enough, try with a 1/3 or 1/2 cup liquid.
I finally got around to making this yesterday and it is delicious! I did add a little extra milk because the carrots I had seemed dry. It turned out perfectly. Thank you for another great tasting and easy to make recipe.
yay!!
Love this! I can smell the cardamom already…
It is so good!