Dudhi ka Halwa. (Amar D. Gupta | Siliconeer)

Chef Sanjay Patel shows how easy it is to prepare a traditional Indian healthy dessert. (Lifestyle, #IndianFood, #DudhiHalwa)

Ingredients:

  • 1½ cups dudhi (bottle gourd) washed, peeled and grated
  • 1½ tbsp. ghee (clarified butter)
  • 1½ cups milk
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • ¼ tsp. cardamom powder
  • 1 tbsp. cashews, chopped
  • 1 tbsp. almonds, chopped

 

Method:

Wash the dudhi well. Peel it and start grating from sides and discard center part with seeds. Use bigger size grater otherwise you will get mushy dudhi. After grating, loosely pack in measuring cup and measure 1½ cups. (If making in large quantity use a food processor to grate it).

Heat the ghee in a pan on medium heat. Once hot, add grated dudhi. Cook, stirring occasionally. Sauté till all the moisture from dudhi is evaporated. It will reduce in size and becomes soft. It takes 10-12 minutes. Add milk and bring to a simmer. Continue cooking till all the milk is evaporated. Be patient, 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. After the milk is reduced and all the moisture is evaporated, add sugar.

As 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. Add chopped cashews and almonds. Mix well. When there are no more bubbles from the mixture. This means all the moisture is evaporated and the halwa is ready.

Turn off the stove. Let the halwa cool down.

Depending on the season, you can serve dudhi halwa warm or chill it in the refrigerator and serve chilled.