Popular Indian delicacy lauki ka halwa is made from bottle gourd (also known as doodhi), sugar, and clarified butter (ghee). It’s a popular dessert for festivals and special events that is tasty and quite healthful. This is a basic recipe for halwa (lauki ka).
Lauki ka Halwa
What’s up guys you are Welcome to my new blogs, today I’m making Lauki Ka Halwa. In my childhood I used to hear about Lauki Ka Halwa made at home, I would never eat it. I used to love Gajar ka Halwa but hearing the word Lauki (bottle gourd), I used to be away from it. If that is the reason that you haven’t tried Lauki Ka Halwa ( doodhi ka halwa) then you have to try it with this recipe.
How to make Lauki ka Halwa
Coz when I had this Lauki Ka Halwa for the first time, I realised that this is as tasty as Gajar ka Halwa. & you get the red carrots only in winter season but you’ll get bottle gourd all year around & can make it anytime. The second speciality of this dish is that you don’t need to add any milk solids, milk powder or cream,
This halwa will be ready with ingredients like milk, bottle gourd, sugar & a lil ghee, available at readily home. And We’ll make it in a simple way. So it’s an easy recipe with simple, inexpensive ingredients & it’ll be ready.
Prep time: 10 minutes Cooking time: 45-50 minutes Serves: 3-4 people
Lauki Ka Halwa Ingredients:
- MILK 1 LITRE (FULL FAT)
- BOTTLE GOURD 1 NO. (750 GRAMS)
- GHEE 3 TBSP
- SUGAR 100 – 120 GRAMS
- GREEN CARDAMOM POWDER A PINCH
- GHEE 1 TBSP
- CHIRONJI 1 TSP
- ALMOND 5-6 NOS. (SLIVERED)
- CASHEW 5-6 NOS. (ROUGHLY CHOPPED)
Festive season is around the corner. Dusshera is upcoming, then there’s Diwali. While celebrating these festivities, we will make these kind of sweets at home. There are many recipes of sweets, laddoos on renuthe kitchen already,
This festive season I’m going to share even more new recipes with you all. The first recipe in this festive season that I’m sharing is Lauki Ka Halwa recipe which is very delicious.
Let’s learn how Lauki Ka Halwa is made in a total homestyle way.
PREPARATION
1. In a thick bottomed pan, I have added 1 litre of full fat milk. Let the milk heat on low flame on a side. When we add the milk to halwa, it should be hot & at a stage of light simmer, so heat the milk until then. So while the milk is heating up on a side, let’s prepare the bottle gourd.
2. Here, I’ve taken 1 bottle gourd. You have to peel the bottle gourd. Keep in mind to take a tender bottle gourd, not a very ripe one which has none to minimal seeds in it. then it’ll be sweeter in taste. Once it is peeled, divide it in 2 parts from centre & then cut it’s top & bottom as well.
3. Now I’m dividing the bottle gourd into 4 quarters so that I can remove the central white seed portion. So like this cut the bottle gourd into quarters. After cutting it in quarters, remove the central white portion. I’ve removed the central portion. You can also leave behind this portion while grating, but I find this method easier. Once you have removed the core, I take a small bite & taste it. Taste it so that you know it’s not bitter as bottle gourds can be sometimes.
You can also read this recipe
4. Our bottle gourd is perfect. Now we have to grate it. Grate through the large bore of the grater. Don’t use the fine bore of the grater otherwise you won’t enjoy the texture of the halwa, As halwa will cook for a long time so bottle gourd will dissolve completely & won’t get that fibrous texture. so I’ve grated the bottle gourd. You grate it similarly. From here the process will speed up.
5. In another vessel add 3 tbsp desi ghee. Once the ghee is hot then transfer this bottle gourd into it. If you leave the bottle gourd like this for a long time then it will start getting oxidised. Cook the bottle gourd in ghee on mediu flame until it becomes translucent.
6. Keep in mind not to brown the bottle gourd as though you were making a gravy, Cook it only until it turns translucent. You will see after 4-5 minutes, our bottle gourd is translucent.
7. On the other side the milk that we left to boil has come to a gentle simmer, Carefully transfer the milk in the vessel with bottle gourd. Once you have added the milk, stir it well. Now on medium flame, while stirring in between, cook the halwa until the milk reduces. & this halwa comes to a semi thick consistency.
8. So stir in between & cook it nicely. So this halwa takes about 1/2 hour to cook, Continue to cook it while stirring. If the flame seems to high, lower it down, If you feel that the halwa isn’t cooking that well then you can increase the flame.
9. What is happening here is the milk is getting reduced properly & the milk solids will form within this itself. That’s why we aren’t adding milk solids from outside & adding it. By adding the milk solids, the process becomes quicker, as you will add less milk in beginning.
10. Here we have used 1 litre milk. As the bottle gourd was roughly 750 grams, & after removing peel & core, we were left with 500 grams of it. So for 1/2 kg we have used double the amount of milk, as in 1 litre milk. If we were going to use milk solids then half of milk as in 500 gms of milk & add rest of milk solids to it. But while making stat home, getting milk solids from market is more difficult.
11. In this although it may take 20-25 minutes extra, but you don’t need to get any ingredient from the market. There are recipes with milk powder too, but I avoid them. If we can give 20-25 minutes more, then why to add milk powder.
12. Some people use fresh cream that is collected from milk as it has a lot of fat content & it releases ghee as well. So instead of adding ghee cream is added so it releases ghee & gets richness too.
13. I’ve been making this halwa with this recipe for a very long time & it turns out amazing. So make it with this simple method & it’s my guarantee that the halwa will be perfect.
14. About the bright green colour that we have outside at sweet shop is due to the food colouring. I personally don’t like the artificial green colour. Make the halwa with the natural off-whitish, greenish colour. Garnish it nicely on top & serve it & everyone will love it.
15. I’ve kept cooking it while stirring in between. So I’ll tell you the stages as how it’ll look while cooking. While cooking it you will see that our halwa is reducing, & similarly it will continue to reduce. At this stage some milk is still visible. & when you will further cook it, it will further continue to reduce.
16. After 15 minutes you will see that the milk has reduced quite a bit & our milk has thickened significantly. We have to cook it a bit further before adding the sugar. We’ll add sugar at the end coz it’ll release water too. At that time it becomes difficult to reduce the milk, so add the sugar at the end, not at this stage.
17. so I’ve cooked it for 10-15 more minutes & in the end this is how the consistency will end up looking like. Once you get this consistency, then you can add sugar to this. Add 100-120 grams of sugar to this. Also add a pinch of cardamom powder & stir well. You can adjust the sugar as per your taste. Once you have cooked it & mixed it well, then taste it again, If you feel like adding more sugar, then you can add more.
18. After stirring you will notice that the mixture will thin out a bit as sugar melts & releases water, Cook the sugar with halwa & continue to cook it for about 10 more minutes. While you are cooking for 10 minutes, keep in mind not to cook too much otherwise it will become lauki ki barfi. Cook it only until the consistency is semi fluid or semi thick.
19. I’ve cooked it like this. This is how it’s consistency should be. Once it reaches this consistency then turn the stove off. Our Halwa is ready.
20. Now I’m going to add a few nuts to this. To add the nuts, in a pan on other side, I’ve taken 1 tbsp ghee. Once the ghee is hot, then to this add 1 tsp chironji seeds, 5-6 slivered almonds, 5-6 chopped cashews, Fry all these nuts on a low flame nicely for 1 minute. until it is lightly golden brown. Once they are golden brown then transfer the nuts along with ghee to the halwa, & stir well.
21.You can add nuts of your choice, you can also add raisins, only almonds, or pistachios or anything you like. & you will see that our Lauki Ka Halwa is ready.
22. Let’s plate it and serve this wonderful lauki ka halwa
23. This Lauki Ka Halwa has turned out so delicious, & you saw the texture is so perfect. & when I tasted it it was super creamy, granular texture, when the milk turns into milk solids, its an enjoyable texture. & if you don’t eat Lauki Ka Halwa then definitely make it with this recipe & I’m sure you’re gonna love it. For all you guys who love Gajar ka Halwa, try & make this halwa too. & celebrate this festive season by making different recipes for sweets,
Dusshera is just around the corner, so Happy Dusshera to all of you in advance. Share this recipe with your friends & family. Hit the Like button if you’ve liked this recipe. Follow & Subscribe if you haven’t yet. Have an amazing time with this beautiful Lauki Ka Halwa recipe at your home. Cheers!