There's an Indian restaurant that I used to go to weekly where everything on the lunch buffet was orange; there was the bright orange tikka masala, assorted curries in pale orange, and even the biryani had an orange tint to it. While most other Indian places in town served kheer (rice pudding) for dessert, this one served warm orange mush. It was this soothing porridge eaten in the company of good friends that somehow made returning to my cube of terror (this was before my life as a cupcake blogger) tolerable. I had no idea what made the mush orange or gave it its exotic flavor. I hoped (but never asked) that it wasn't just lots of artificial color.
The orange mush was carrot halwa (gajar halwa) and I now know how to make it myself! The exotic smell turned out to be cardamom and ghee simmering on the stove, and when I smelled it in my own house, I breathed it in deeply and lamented that I didn't have a whole orange buffet to go with it.
