Bottle gourd grated and slow-cooked in milk with ghee and sugar until the gourd dissolves into a smooth, fragrant halwa — a Gujarati home sweet that is lighter than carrot halwa and uses the abundant bottle gourd that grows in Gujarat's gardens. Made for fasting days and light dessert.
Ingredients
500 g bottle gourd (lauki/dudhi) — peeled, seeded and grated
2 tbsp ghee
2 cups full-fat milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp cardamom powder
2 tbsp cashews — fried in 1 tsp ghee until golden
a pinch of saffron soaked in 2 tbsp warm milk
Method
Prepare the bottle gourd: Peel the bottle gourd and remove the seedy centre. Grate on the coarse side of a grater. The gourd releases a lot of water — press lightly to remove obvious excess but do not squeeze completely dry.
Heat ghee: Heat 2 tbsp ghee in a wide, heavy pan.
Add grated gourd: Add the grated gourd. Stir immediately. It will sizzle as the water hits the hot ghee.
Cook until water evaporates: Cook on medium heat stirring every 2 minutes for 10 to 12 minutes until all the released water from the gourd has completely evaporated and the gourd is dry and beginning to look slightly golden.
Add milk: Add 2 cups full-fat milk. Stir. The milk will immediately begin to sizzle and blend with the cooked gourd.
Cook until milk is absorbed: Cook on medium heat, stirring every 2 to 3 minutes, for 15 to 18 minutes until all the milk has been absorbed by the gourd and the halwa is thick.
Add sugar: Add sugar. Stir. The sugar dissolves and the halwa becomes briefly wetter then dries again.
Cook 5 more minutes: Cook stirring after adding sugar for 5 minutes until the halwa is once again thick and pulling away from the pan sides.
Add saffron and cardamom: Add saffron milk and cardamom. Stir.
Serve warm: Garnish with fried cashews. Serve warm.
Note: Dudhi Halwa (dudhi = bottle gourd in Gujarati/Marathi) is one of the lighter halwas of Indian cooking — bottle gourd is 95% water so the halwa requires significantly less ghee than carrot or moong dal halwa. In Gujarat, bottle gourd grows abundantly in home gardens and on farms — it is considered an essential cooling vegetable in summer and Ayurveda considers it a health-promoting, easily digestible vegetable. The halwa made from it is considered appropriate as a light sweet for those on restricted diets.