![]() Carrot pudding with fruits | |
Type | Pudding |
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Main ingredients | carrots, butter, sugar, eggs, spices |
Carrot pudding is a dish traditional to a wide range of cultures around the world. It can be served either as a savoury pudding (as an accompaniment to a regular meal) or as a sweet dessert.
An English recipe, published in 1591, describes "pudding in a Carret [ sic ] root" [1] that is essentially a stuffed carrot with meat, shortening, cream, eggs, raisins, sweetener (dates and sugar), spices (clove and mace), scraped carrot, and breadcrumbs. [1] In The Oxford Companion to Food , writer Alan Davidson believes that carrots were used in Europe to make sweet cakes. [2] These were a predecessor to the carrot cake. Carrot pudding has been served in Ireland since at least the 18th century. [3] It was also served in the United States as long ago as 1876. [4] Because sweeteners were rationed during the Second World War, carrot pudding was seen as an alternative in the UK. Later on, carrot cake was seen as a 'health food'. [2]
A sweet dish/dessert associated mainly with Indian cuisine is called Gajar Pak [5] or Gajrela or Gajar ka halwa (carrot sweet dish). [6] [7] [8]