The best homemade dudhi halwa you’ll ever taste! This lauki halwa is rich, creamy with perfectly moist, tender, sweet bottle gourd shreds, they’re deliciously sweet and flavored with cardamom powder.
A must try halwa for the summer season!

Dudhi Halwa Recipe!
Dudhi halwa or lauki halwa is an Indian sweet made from bottle gourd, sugar, and milk. It is flavored with cardamom powder and garnished with chopped nuts like almonds and cashews. Bottle gourd vegetable is known as dudhi, ghiya, opo squash, lauki in other Indian languages.
The halwa we buy from the halwais or stores, that is slightly green in color. Because they have added green food color. I rarely use food colors in my cooking, so I have not added any. But if you want you can add a few drops of green color.
Halwa is the most popular dessert in India. There are many different varieties of halwa are made. They are made using flour or grain or lentils or fruits or vegetables. Yes, there is a countless number of different halwas. Among all the halwa, carrot halwa is the most popular one.
Check out More halwa recipes
pumpkin halwa // papaya halwa // pineapple halwa // atte ka halwa // mango halwa
Today’s halwa recipe is made with bottle gourd vegetable. Not everyone likes this vegetable and you are one of them. I bet try this dudhi halwa and my dudhi chana dal recipe once, you will sure like it.
Lauki halwa made during Navratri vrat (fasting):
This can be made on Navratri fasting or Ekadashi vrat. Many people eat lauki during fasting. in my family, we do not eat it on any kind of fast. So if making for fasting days then please do ask your elders about the family traditions and then consume.
How to make Dudhi halwa?
1) Wash the lauki well. Peel it and start grating from sides and discard center part with seeds. Use bigger sized grater (box grater) otherwise, you will get mushy lauki. After grating, loosely pack in measuring cup and measure 1 ½ cups. If making in large quantity then use a food processor to grate it which makes the job very easy.
2) Heat the ghee in a pan on medium heat. Once hot add grated lauki. Cook with stirring occasionally.
3) Saute till all the moisture from lauki is evaporated. It will reduce in size and becomes soft. It took me 10-12 minutes.
4) Then add milk and bring to a simmer. Continue cooking until all the milk is evaporated. Be patience, it will take some time.
5) Do stir in between and scrape the sides and the bottom of the pan. So the milk solids do not stick and burn on the sides and bottom of the pan.
6) Now the milk is reduced and all the moisture is evaporated.
7) Add sugar.
8) As the sugar melts again it becomes thin and runny.
9) keep cooking and stirring till all the water is gone. When it is almost ready, add cardamom powder, chopped cashews, and almonds.
10) Mix well. When there are no more bubbles from the mixture. means all the moisture is evaporated and the halwa is ready.
Turn off the stove. Let the halwa cool down. You can serve lauki ka halwa warm or chill in the fridge and serve chilled.
Check out more dudhi recipes
Dudhi thepla // Dudhi muthia // Lauki sabzi // Lauki barfi // Lauki kheer
Dudhi Halwa (Lauki Halwa)
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups Lauki (bottle gourd or dudhi) washed, peeled and grated
- 1 ½ tablespoons Ghee (clarified butter)
- 1 ½ cups Milk
- ¼ teaspoon Green cardamom seeds powder
- ¼ cup Sugar
- 1 tablespoon Cashew nuts chopped
- 1 tablespoon Almonds chopped
Instructions
Preparation:
- Wash the lauki well. Peel it and start grating from sides and discard center part with seeds.
- Use bigger sized grater otherwise, you will get mushy lauki. After grating, loosely pack in measuring cup and measure 1 ½ cups.
- Chop the almonds and cashews, keep them ready.
Making dudhi halwa recipe:
- Heat the ghee in a pan on medium heat. Once hot add grated lauki. Cook with stirring occasionally till all the moisture from lauki is evaporated. It will reduce in size and becomes soft. It took me 10-12 minutes.
- Then add milk and bring to a simmer and continue cooking till all the milk is evaporated. Be patience, it will take some time.
- Do stir in between and scrape the sides and the bottom of the pan. So the milk solids do not stick and burn on the sides of the pan.
- Now the milk is reduced and all the moisture is evaporated, add sugar. As the sugar melts again it becomes thin and runny. Keep cooking and stirring till all the water is gone.
- When it is almost ready, add cardamom powder.
- Also, add chopped cashews and almonds. Mix well.
- When there are no more bubbles from the mixture. means all the moisture is evaporated and the halwa is ready.
- Turn off the stove.
Notes
- If making halwa in larger quantity then use a food processor to grate it which makes the job very easy.
- If you want a more rich taste and texture then add ¼ cup khoya before adding sugar.
CDP
I have used quite a few of your recipes for different dishes which all came out quite good. Today I am going to make some dudhi halwa following you recipe which I found quite easy to follow.
Thank you.
CDP
Kanan Patel
Sure, happy cooking!!
Let me know how it turned out
Atiqur Rahman
Hi Kanan
I am copying your recipe. Do you have any cookbooks on Indian vegetarian and non-vegetarian recipes?
Thanks
Kanan Patel
No I haven't published any cookbook yet.