Carrot Custard | Carrot Custard Pudding | Carrot Custard Kheer

This recipe screams childhood memories in my head.. I was very much averse to sweets till my little one was born. There were very few sweets or sweet dishes that I liked. If I remember correctly all that I liked was my amma's gulab jamun and this carrot custard and my ammooma's (grand ma's) occasional pineapple kesari and athirasam.. That too once in a blue moon and not regularly. This carrot custard was my fav.. And actually there is a funny story to this custard.. 

Once during my exam days (I think during 7th grade) my mom made Carrot Pongal (will try to post this recipe too soon) and Carrot Custard for lunch. That day I had my exam in the afternoon. I had a hearty meal and went to the exam and passed with flying colours. In fact I was the school topper (all divisions of that grade put together) that time. Somehow it stuck in my mind that it was the good omen of this carrot custard (good faith you see ;)) and used to bug my mom to make it at least once during each exam. Now that i think about it, I feel so embarrassed and funny. But my mom used to oblige :D , she's a gem you know... So I make it once in a while now to reminisce those days and again in the good faith that I can sneak some milk into my little one's diet.. But no, he doesn't seem to enjoy this as I do.. But that doesn't stop me from making them you know.. So for all those sweet lovers out there and for those who want to try a different kinda dessert, here comes the recipe.

Preparation Time : 5 minutes

Cooking Time : 20 minutes

Recipe source : Ma's Ole Cookbook

Serves : 6-8 servings

I Used:

Boiled Carrot paste	-	100 gm (about 2 big long carrots)
Milk	-	500 ml
Sugar	-	4 tbsp
Custard powder	-	3 tbsp
Cream	-	1 tbsp

The Way:

1. Peel the skin of the carrot. Rinse it well and chop them into small pieces. Now pressure cook them for 2-3 whistles or till cooked

2. Allow them to cool. Then take the boiled carrots in a mixer jar and grind them to a smooth paste and keep aside

3. Mix the custard powder in a little milk (about a tbsp) and make a smooth paste

4. Boil the milk with sugar

5. Add the carrot paste and stir nicely. Allow it to cook well for about 5-6 minutes. Keep stirring in between so that it doesn't get burnt

6. Add the prepared custard to the carrot-milk mixture and boil for 2 minutes stirring continuously. Else lumps will be formed

7. Now add the cream and mix well. Switch off the flame

8. Remove from fire and allow it to cool. Then refrigerate it or an hour or more and then serve chilled and garnished with nuts of your choice

Notes:

• Instead of pressure cooking the carrots, you can grate them and saute in ghee and then add boiled milk and sugar to it and then continue from step 5. In that case cook a little longer for the carrots to get cooked well. This will be more of a kheer kind than pudding
• I made these with the Delhi carrots as I get them more than the normal carrots nowadays but I like it better with normal carrots
• If the carrots are not very sweet, then add little more sugar to balance the taste
• If the pith of the carrots are that green or light yellow in colour, it can ruin the tatse of this dessert. So either discard them or make this pudding with nice sweet carrots

Cheers,

Chitz