Vegan Beet Halwa

With our Indian-themed dinner, we needed an appropriate Indian dessert. Conveniently, we had a bunch of small beets in the CSA share -- perfect for beet halwa! Halwa is typically made from a ton of ghee and milk . . . not exactly vegan; this version uses canola oil and s'milk instead. There's also usually sugar, but a bit of agave nectar works just fine.

Once all the beets were grated, it yielded about one and a half cups, but there's no reason you couldn't scale this recipe up or down.

Vegan Beet Halwa

• 1 1/2 cups grated beets
• 2 tbsp canola oil
• 1 1/2 cups soy milk
• 1 tbsp agave nectar
• 3 cardamom pods
• a handful of cashews

Fry the grated beets in the oil for about two minutes. Add the milk and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the beets seem cooked. Stir in the agave nectar and cardamom pods, then simmer until the liquid is gone, still stirring occasionally. Once the liquid is gone, remove from the heat and add the cashews (I crushed them into smaller pieces first). Serve warm or allow to cool.