Sweet Gamble

Hello,

In my last grocery shopping trip to the local supermarket, I was excited to find fresh Lauki/Bottle gourd.

Many of you (esp anyone from Indian sub-continent) will snort as you read my last statement! On the popularity list 'lauki' is far, far below.

While I have a penchant for the forsaken; I love gavar, meethi, karela (weird I warned you before) But lauki, sorry I'm with the masses on that one :D, unless......?

It is 'halwa' we are talking about!!!!!

Everybody is aware of the delicious delicacy called 'gajar/carrot halwa' (it my favourite too) But lauki or dudhi (as it's called in Marathi) halwa is my second favourite.

It's more practical to prepare 'dudhi halwa' anytime of the year as 'dudhi' is available round the year; unlike carrots which are more seasonal (winter crop) Yes, you do get carrots in the market all round the year now, but the imported variety. For me, only the local red carrots work for the authentic gajar halwa.

Now you know my exurberance at spotting the perfect specimens for making dudhi halwa!!!😏

These were duly sacrificed yesterday evening in the altar of my kitchen - chopped, scraped & shredded!!
(Sounds like a gory narration from my favourite 'SAW' series...hehe....)
Anyway here is the end result of my 2 hours toiling in the kitchen.

For those who would like to give a chance to the 'lauki/dudhi' to redeem themselves in your & your family's eyes, I'd say you won't regret it.

The method remains the same as gajar halwa. 

RECIPE:

Time taken: 80-90 mins 

Serves: 6-8 servings

Method:

1) Remove the outer skin. Grate the lauki/dudhi, about one kg; the reduction would be about two bowlfuls. It took me a good half hour plus do do this)

2) In deep pan, heat about 2-3 tbsp of ghee, add 3 crushed cardamoms, handful of cashew bits and toast them lightly. 

3) Keep the flame on the lowest, add the lauki/dudhi, 3/4 cup sugar + 1/4 cup of milk (optional 1/2 cup sugar + 100 ml of condensed milk)

4) Allow the lauki/dudhi to cook slowly for about 30-35 mins. Keep stirring in between to avoid caramelising at the bottom. When cooked the dudhi will be transclucent & tender to bite. It also has a slight rosy flavour

5) Keep cooking till the moisture has dried up; put off the flame. 

6) This step is optional. 

When grating, the dudhi got a lil browned due to oxidation, so once cooked my halwa had a pale greenish brown colour. So I added a few drops of green food colour.

Also the smell of the halwa was slightly caramel-y (maybe from the cooking sugar), to counter that I added about few drops of rose essence.

7) Finaly 100 gms of unsweetened mava (milk solids), crushed roughly

8) Dudhi ka Halwa can be relished it hot or cold.

Cheers!!