BOTTLEGOURD (LAUKI) HALWA

22.08.2020: These dates indicate the date on which I cooked the dish.

S reminded me that I had made apple crisp on Gowri Habba, the festival celebrated a day before Ganesha Chaturthi or as Skip and I call it, Ganapathy’s mommy’s birthday (almost every festival for Skip and me is an opportunity to wish a deity a happy birthday). As far as I can recall, I have never made a special or a sweet dish on any festival. Laddoos and Payasams (Kheer), Puliyogare( Tamarind rice) and Gujjiyas (Karjikai/Karanji) find their way home either from my in-laws’ or my parents’ place.

Every year, we celebrate Ganesha Chaturthi at a local Ganesha temple my father-in-law help build. A day before, a delicious aroma wafts out in the evening as we have cooks stirring tamarind rice in huge pots, deep frying Gujjiays and preparing the prasada with flattened rice in our house. Skip and I hang around like two hungry puppies, taking in the aromas of the sweet and  the savoury.

This year was different. There was no grand celebration though we still did manage to eat Gujiya (I LOVE Gujiyas) and Modak and my mother in law sent Puliyogare for us. S asked me what I was making for Ganesha and I decided to make the Bottlegourd Halwa.

This was the first time I was making Halwa, ever. I thought of the carrot halwa I was supposed to get on my birthday in March (my grandmother makes fantastic carrot halwa) but never did due to the lockdown but my thoughtful mother did send me a picture of them eating it!

The Halwa did not turn out soft and fluffy as I may have left it on the flame longer than intended but it did taste delicious, having a more caramelised taste than the regular halwa. While I liked the kheer better, I will definitely be making this Halwa again. 

I got this recipe from Hebbar’s Kitchen. This recipe calls for adding Khoya unlike the other recipes that I found on the net. Hence, I picked this. You will also find the recipe for homemade Khoya below. I have reduced the quantities of ghee and sugar in this recipe. The original recipe calls for 1/4th cup of each. 

Do you love Gujiyas and Carrot Halwa as well? You know what to do. @Lucidlucent.

BOTTLEGOURD (LAUKI) HALWA (serves 4 people with tiny appetites)

Ingredients:

Bottlegourd – 1 (mine weighed 450 gms)

Ghee/clarified butter –  2 tbsps

Cashews (chopped) – 1 tbsp

Almonds (chopped) – 1 tbsp

Raisins – 1 tbsp

Milk – ½ cup

Sugar – 3 heaped tbsps

Cardamom powder – 1/4^th tsp

For the Khoya:

Ghee – 1 tsp

Milk – 1/2^th cup

Milk powder- 1/4^th cup

Method:

1.   For the Khoya: Heat the ghee and milk in a pan. Add the milk powder and stir immediately. Break the lumps and mix it till the mixture separates from the pan. Remove from flame. Do no fry for too long else the khoya gets too crumbly.

2.   In another pan, roast the dry fruits in 2 tbsp ghee until they brown. Remove from the pan and set aside.

3.   Grate the Bottlegourd and add to the same pan. Sauté it for about 10 minutes until the gourd shirnks.

4.    Add the milk and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring it at regular intervals. The milk should have thickened and the gourd completed cooked.

5.     Add sugar and mix well and let the milk boils for 5 minutes.

6.   Add Khoya into the cooked gourd mixture and keep stirring until the Khoya is well mixed.

7.     Add the roasted nuts and cardamom powder and mix well.

8.     Done.

Recipe Notes:

·  Adjust the quantities of other ingredients to suit your taste and weight of the bottlegourd.

·       You could also dry roast the dry fruits. If you are roasting them in ghee, be quick to remove them from flame. They brown quick.

·     Do not overcook the Khoya. I did and it got a bit crumbly, the halwa still tasted good but it wasn’t soft.

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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