Carrot Halvah

An Indian co-worker of mine, Mahesh Krishnamurthi, brought some of this to lunch one day and said, "Try this. What do you think of it?" I thought I wanted to know how to make it! I like it so much that people tell me, "Finish your dessert, then you can have your vegetables."

• 1 pound carrots, peeled and coarsely grated (hint: food processor)
• 1 C milk, more or less
• six cardamom pods (or 1/4 tsp ground cardamom if you don't have pods)
• 1/2 C sugar (about)
• 1/2 C raisins (yellow raisins preferred)
• 1/4 C slivered almonds

Place grated carrots in saucepan. Add enough milk not to cover carrots, but to come close to the top of them. Add cardamom pods. Bring to a boil, lower heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until most of the milk is absorbed by carrots or boiled off.

Remove cardamom pods, add sugar to taste, raisins, and almonds, mix well.