Lauki halwa, bottle gourd halwa is a famous dessert prepared with bottle gourd, milk and sugar. Quick video, step by step pictures.
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Lauki halwa is also commonly known as dudhi halwa and popular in North India. Being a south Indian, I have not tasted or tried this before anytime anywhere.
Usually I don’t buy this veggie often, I am not sure myself why. Vj likes kootu and adai/ dosai with it. I know there are many dishes like sabzi, kofta etc. But yet to try those.
I tried this last month itself and been wanting to try again before posting. Because the first time I tried, the milk separated even though I poured after boiling.
Second time, I thought I will make use of the milk powder I have and added to the halwa along with milk. The result was good only that too much milk powder was added, so it was more tasting like palkova than halwa.
This time again when I bought lauki, I made it. Before preparing, read many blogs about this and I read in couple of blogs that it’s okay if milk looks separated. I gained bit of confidence to try, this time with less milk powder.
Though I read few articles about milk separating (also we prepare many sweets like rasgulla, sandesh etc) it’s kind of panic when we see milk separating as soon as we pour.
Since this is halwa, it’s not going to affect the end product’s look. If it is kheer, then it may not look good. If you want to avoid this, you can use condensed milk.
Just use ½ cup for this recipe. Or even ½ cup khoya will work. I found my method of adding milk powder to thicken milk also works pretty well.
Recipe card
Lauki Halwa recipe | Bottle gourd halwa
Ingredients
- 2 cups Bottle gourd/ lauki grated
- ¾ cup sugar1 cup milk
- ¼ cup milk powder refer notes
- 3-4 tablespoon ghee
- 10 Cashews or silvered badam
- 1 Cardamom powdered
Instructions
- First peel the bottle gourd with a peeler (with ridges preferably). Cut into half, then through the seeds and into quarters.
- Grate it finely. Measure 2 cups of grated lauki.
- I squeeze the excess water, it’s optional.
- In a heavy bottomed pan, heat a tablespoon of ghee. Add broken cashews to it and roast in medium flame until golden. Drain from ghee and keep aside.
- In the same ghee, add lauki and sautee well for 2 mins. You can cook covered.
- Dissolve milk powder in milk. Bring to boil.
- Add it to sauteed lauki. Cook in low flame until all the milk gets thickened.
- Add sugar and mix well. It will liquefy but keep cooking until it thickens. But do it in medium flame.
- After it have thickened, start adding ghee little by little and keep stirring.
- It will start giving whitish micro bubbles in the bottom. This is halwa stage.
- Make sure not to cook in high heat as it will harden the halwa. Also take care not to change it’s colour. If it caramelizes, it gets hardened as it cools.
- Add the fried cashews and mix. Switch off the flame and transfer to serving bowl.
Video
Notes
- Use ½ cup condensed milk in this recipe, skip milk, milk powder
- Use ½ cup khoya instead of milk and milk powder
- I squeeze excess water for more easy cooking.
- Always cook in medium flame through out the halwa. If cooked in high heat, it will harden, become chewy. Do not let the colour change.
Stepwise photos
1. First peel the bottle gourd with a peeler (with ridges preferably). Cut into half, then through the seeds and into quarters. Grate it finely.
2. Measure 2 cups of grated lauki. I squeeze the excess water, it’s optional.
3. In a heavy bottomed pan, heat a tablespoon of ghee. Add broken cashews to it and roast in medium flame until golden. Drain from ghee and keep aside.
4. In the same ghee, add lauki and sautee well for 2 mins. You can cook covered.
5. Dissolve milk powder in milk. Bring to boil.
6. Add it to sauteed lauki.
7. Cook in low flame until all the milk gets thickened.
8. Add sugar and mix well.
9. It will liquefy but keep cooking until it thickens. But do it in medium flame.
10. After it have thickened, start adding ghee little by little and keep stirring.
11. It will start leaving sides. When you turn halwa from bottom, giving whitish micro bubbles in the bottom. This is halwa stage.
12. Make sure not to cook in high heat as it will harden the halwa. Also take care not to change it’s color. If it caramelizes, it gets hardened as it cools.
13. Add the fried cashews and mix.
14. Switch off the flame and transfer to serving bowl.
Enjoy warm. Stays good for 3-4 days in fridge.
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