Carrot Payasa - Half a century celebration

I still remember the first time I tasted the carrot payasa/kheer at a friend's house. It was a few years ago, summer time and also a string of South Indian festivals. Her mom was visiting her from India and it was a beautiful Saturday morning and the house was completely filled with the tantalizing smell of the kheer. Her mom had indeed prepared a feast which included this yummy dessert. I didn't believe her when she said it was just carrots and milk and that it took her under 30 mins to make it. We all love carrot halwa at home but it does take time to make a good halwa and I think this is only second best compared to carrot halwa. The same goodness of carrots, richness from milk turns this easy to make dessert into a delicacy.

I made one small change to the recipe aunty gave me by adding a fistful of soaked and peeled almonds. I have made this for parties and pot lucks and have always seen the payasa get relished by all.

Coming to the celebration part, Sattvaa completes 50 blog posts with this carrot payasa. It has been a great journey for the last 4 months, blogging has really given me the needed distraction in my life in addition to providing a creative outlet for me. It definitely is busier now but I like it. I love making friends, hearing from them and it lifts me up to see the comments on my posts. I appreciate every one of you taking the time to leave your thoughts on this blog. Looking forward to staying connected. BH spent a Saturday morning recently to help me create a facebook page for the blog, you can friend me on facebook to bring you immediate updates on my posts. Click on the facebook 'Like' button on the blog page. 

Back to today's recipe, this payasa has only a few ingredients and yet tastes great.

What do you need to make Carrot Payasa? 
Makes 10 cups of payasa 
8 medium sized carrots
1+1/4 cups sugar
5-6 cups of milk (I used 2%)
8-10 almonds
1 Tsp ghee (clarified butter)

How do you make Carrot Payasa?

• Wash, peel and grate carrots.
• Soak almonds in warm water for 20 minutes, peel the outer skin. 
• Heat ghee in a sauce pan, add carrot gratings and fry it on medium heat until soft, takes 6-8 minutes.

• Once the carrot is cool, blend it in your blender with 2 cups of milk and almonds to a smooth paste. 
• Bring the remaining milk to boil, add sugar and the ground carrot paste. 
• Stirring frequently, boil for about 6-8 minutes. 

• Adjust sugar if necessary. 
• Payasa tastes great served warm or cold. 

Notes: 

• Adjust sugar to please your taste buds, watch out for the sweetness of the carrot. 
• You can skip almonds, aunty's payasa didn't have it but still tasted great. 
• Adjust the quantity of milk if needed to get a pouring consistency.
• I do not add the usual suspects in a South Indian dessert such as cardamom, nutmeg or saffron in this recipe as the carrots and almonds have a perfectly matched flavor. 

Here is a cup of warm, frothy carrot payasa for all of you!