Dudhi Halwa (Lauki Halwa)

Dudhi Halwa in Marathi

Time: approx 1 hour
Serves: 4 people (yield: around 1 and half to 2 cups)

Ingredients:
3/4 Kg Bottle gourd
1 and 1/2 cup milk
2 tsp Ghee
3/4 cup Khoya
3/4 cup Sugar
1/4 tsp Cardamom Powder
Dry fruits pieces (I used Chirounji, cashew, almonds)

Method:
1) Peel and grate bottle gourd. Squeeze out and reserve the water. Use reserved water for making soup, sambar or Dal.
2) In a deep pan, heat 2 tsp Ghee. Add grated and squeezed bottle gourd and saute for 2 to 4 minutes. Then add 1 and 1/2 cup milk and let the bottle gourd cook over medium heat. Cover the pan while cooking.
3) Once milk is absorbed, check whether bottle gourd is cooked or not. If you get little rawness, add little milk and cook for some more time. Then add Khoya. Remove all the lumps from khoya.
4) Five minutes after adding khoya, add sugar, cardamom powder, dry fruits and stir well. Keep the flame low. After adding sugar, halwa will become little watery. But within 5 to 7 minutes it will start thickening. Keep stirring until you get perfect consistency dudhi halwa.
Serve Halwa hot or cold.

Note:
1) Bottle gourd should be fresh and seedless.
2) If you have leftover Pedha, use it instead of khoya. But reduce the quantity of sugar as pedha already have some sugar.