Dudhi halwa or Lauki halwa - an Indian sweet dish made with bottle gourd, milk and sugar. It is flavored with cardamon powder and garnished with chopped nuts.
1 ½cupsLauki (bottle gourd or dudhi)washed, peeled and grated
1 ½tablespoonsGhee (clarified butter)
1 ½cupsMilk
¼teaspoonGreen cardamom seeds powder
¼cupSugar
1tablespoonCashew nutschopped
1tablespoonAlmondschopped
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.