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Carrot Pudding

Gajar Halwa, made with grated carrots, milk, sugar, dry fruits and ghee, has a divine taste and aroma that will take you to another world.

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Why it works: Carrot and cardamom match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 155 recipes mention both. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 10
Prep15 min
Cook40 min

Ingredients

Contains: milk, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Heat the ghee in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Add the shredded carrots and cook, stirring often, for about 10 minutes until they soften slightly.

  2. Pour in the milk, bring to a gentle simmer, and cook uncovered over medium heat, stirring often, for about 15 minutes until the carrots are very tender and the milk has reduced.

  3. Stir in the sugar and cook for about 8 minutes, stirring, until the sugar dissolves and the mixture thickens into a pudding.

  4. Meanwhile, toast the chopped almonds and cashews in a small dry pan over low heat for about 3 minutes, stirring, until lightly golden. Set aside.

  5. Stir the raisins and cardamom powder into the pudding and cook for about 4 minutes more, stirring, until the raisins plump.

  6. Serve the carrot pudding warm, topped with the toasted almonds and cashews.

By tastykitchen. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Carrot + cardamomtop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together155 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Almond + raisintop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together1,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  3. Almond + cardamomtop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together457 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Ghee + cardamomtop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together622 recipes
  5. Raisin + cardamomtop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together69 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, milk, ghee, carrot, almond, sugar, cardamom):

  1. Vanillabetter flavor fit
  2. Coconutbetter flavor fit
  3. Orangebetter flavor fit
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, milk, ghee, carrot, almond, sugar, cardamom. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).