Dudhee Halwa

Bottle gourd is a vegetable, you can prepare it like a vegetable or made a sweet dish from this vegetable, surprised, yes and it tastes delicious and retains the flavour of the vegetable, and is very cooling for your system,  so if some body has the complain of stomach acidity, this is the vegetable you should be eating often.

Bottle gourd is called Lauki , Dudhee in Hindi, and Lauki halwa , is a dessert that is absolutely mouth watering ,prepared by cooking  grated lauki (Bottle gourd) with milk, sugar, nuts and saffron and small cardamom, that gives it this delicious aroma.

 After savoury dishes I decided to make this sweet dish, very much a favourite of my husband. 

Boil  Milk and  Bottle gourd

Adding sugar 

Almost done !

Dudhee Halwa 

Ingredients
500 gm Bottle gourd, wash, peeled and shredded will give approximately 2 cups of shredded Bottle gourd
1/4 cup chopped nuts  almonds, walnuts, pistachio (all unsalted)
1 cup milk
1/4 cup half-and-half
2 tspn  powdered small cardamom
1 cup sugar, can add little more like 1/2 cup more for sweeter taste
2 tbsp ghee (clarified butter) available in Indian stores


Method
1.Wash and  grate  Bottle gourd, can keep the skin on.
Heat a medium non stick pot, add 2 tablespoon ghee, add in 1 tspn powdered cardamom, and all the grated bottle gourd, stir for 2 to 3 minutes.
2. Next, add in milk and half n half, cover and allow to boil over medium heat, stirring from time to time , making sure it doesn't burn to the bottom of the cooking pot.
3. After the milk has evaporated and the bottle gourd seems softened and  cooked, remove lid and  add in the powdered nuts, and saffron. Continue cooking, next add in sugar ,carefully keep stirring, mixture will be hot and may bubble,keep cooking till sugar gets well incorporated, and  once the ghee (clarified butter) begin's to appear on the sides of the cooking pot.Serve it  garnished with your favourite nuts and small cardamom.