BOTTLE GOURD KHEER (PAYASAM)

11.07.2020: I have made my dislike for gourds well known. If I were to rate gourds in my order of preference, the bottle gourd would be at the bottom. However, I do make it a point to buy this vegetable once in a while. We generally add it to our curries and once it goes on my plate, I squish it with my spoon so I don’t have to feel that smooth, slippery cube rolling in my mouth.

I was earlier having bottle gourd juice (nothing fancy, just bottle gourd and salt) until I read the newspaper article on the woman who died after having consumed bottle gourd juice. A quick search on the net revealed that bottle gourd juice with a bitter taste can cause severe toxic reactions and though such kind of toxicity is extremely rare, it can also lead to death! How does one determine whether the juice is bitter or not after having read such an article. I did not bother cross checking on the veracity of these statements and found it a good excuse to give up drinking the juice I anyway detested.

I had a bottle gourd lying in the fridge. When Radha took it out to add it to the dal, by divine intervention, I remembered Lauki Kheer that I had had many, many years ago and decided to make kheer.

I am not a big fan of Vermcilli Kheer. Mamma makes it often because Skip likes it and his likes trump mine now. This kheer tastes exactly like Vermcilli kheer but only better (I may probably feel this way because I made it). The grated gourd tastes exactly like thicker Vermcilli strands and it’s a healthier version! I got this recipe from Veg Recipes of India. I have reduced the amount of sugar as we like our sweets slightly on the bland side.  Please do try this recipe out and let me know if you’d gladly replace it with Vermcilli (Seviyan) Kheer!

BOTTLE GOURD KHEER (PAYASAM)

Ingredients:

Bottle gourd (Lauki) – 1 ½ cups (200 gms, roughly half a medium sized bottle gourd)

Milk – 2 ½ cups (500 ml)

Ghee/oil – 1 tbsp

Cardamom powder – ½ tsp

Sugar - 5 heaped tsps

Cashews and raisins – as per taste 

Method:

1.      Peel and grate the bottle gourd.

2.    In a thick bottomed pan, add ghee or oil and sauté the grated gourd for about 5 minutes. Keep stirring it often.

3.  To this, add the milk and stir well. On low to medium flame, let the milk cook until it thickens. Keep stirring often and mixing in the cream that forms as the milk begins to change colour and reduce. This should take about 15-20 minutes.

4. Add sugar and cardamom powder. Stir well.

5.  In a separate pan, roast cashews and raisins and add to the kheer.

6.      Done.

Recipe Notes:

·     Always use thick bottomed pans for milk based dishes that involve cooking milk for long.

·You may add the cashews and raisins without roasting them.

· You may replace sugar with jaggery.

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