baked glazed carrots

       Carrot is such a lovely vegetable.I love the color and specially the nice tender ones are sweet and so crunchy.Full of beta carotene ,which are great for eyes, I try and use them in various ways in my diet.The other day,the carrots were too many and needed to be used up.I really racked my brain and thought of how they could be combined with other things to make them work on my palate.They needed to be luscious and a bit of sweet and mmmm a bit of spice and .......basically a bit of everything and that too baked.My tongue and mind were playing a havoc and finally came to this recipe.I served it with savory waffles.This can be also eaten as a warm salad too.

Ingredients
Carrots peeled                                   5 nos
Onion slices thick                               1 no
Red bell peppers chopped                  1/2 no                              
crushed garlic                                     3 nos
grated ginger                                      1 tbsp
crushed chilli flakes                            1/2 tsp
Crushed pepper                                 1/4 tsp
honey                                                1/2 tsp
Italian herbs                                       1/2 tsp
Oregano                                            1/4 tsp
Olive oil                                            1-2 tbsp
salt to taste
Lime juice as per choice

Method
Cut carrots into 1 cm ovals diagonally.
In a baking dish put in the carrots,onions,bell peppers,crushed garlic,ginger and everything else too.
Mix them well.
Add about 1/4 cup of water and cover well with aluminium foil.
Bake in pre heated oven at 180 deg for 15-20 mins.
Remove the cover and bake again for 10 mins till the edges of carrots brown a bit.
See that there is a bit of juice from the carrots still in there.
Top with lime juice and serve.They luscious and delicious.

Gajar ka halwa (carrot sweet)

  One of the most famous desserts made in the North of India is undoubtedly Gajar ka halwa.Every house hold is busy making it in kgs and storing in the fridge every  winter the moment red luscious carrots storm the vegetable market.This dessert can be made very nutritious and is great for eyes as it is full of beta carotene.As a kid my mother would make it and the smell would be all over the home.I sometimes just love it half cooked with sugar sprinkled on it.It is great for eyes she would tell me and I would gobble it all up.I make it more healthy as it is made normally very rich with loads of "ghee" and dry fruits.I try and cut it down.
Ingredients
Grated carrots                1 kg
whole milk                      1 lt
sugar                              150 gms(adjust to taste)
ghee/cream                     2 tbsp/50 ml
cardamom powder          1 tsp
chopped nuts(almonds,walnuts) according to your like
raisins                    

Method

Put the grated carrots in a thick pan with milk and boil till it reduces.make sure to keep stirring so that it does not get burnt.It should reduce completely and cooked till all the milk is dry.Add ghee/cream and cook again.Add the sugar and keep cooking till its a bit dry.Add the nuts and raisins and switch off.It tastes really good when warm.Serve with vanilla ice cream as another option.