Lauki halwa or Dudhi halwa is a traditional Indian dessert made using fresh grated bottle gourd (lauki), milk, sugar, ghee, flavored with ground cardamom and garnished with chopped nuts, rose petals or silver vark.
In hindi, bottle gourd is known as lauki or ghiya and doodhi or dudhi in Marathi and several number of names like Opo Squash, calabash squash, white-flowered bottle gourd, long melon depending on the region.
Lauki/bottle gourd is one of those vegetables that has many health benefits as per Ayurvedic and Modern science perspective and is available throughout the year.
To make lauki halwa recipe, grated bottle gourd is usually slow cooked in milk and ghee along with sugar and nuts. It takes some time to make and does not require any expert cooking skills. It can be served hot or warm or chilled after your special North Indian meals or weekend meals.
As a popular traditional Indian sweet, dudhi ka halwa is simple, delicious in taste and texture similar to everyone’s all-time favorite carrot halwa and can be enjoy any time of the year.
In India, a lot of people make this lauki halwa during festivals or fasting days (vrat) like Navratri fast and Ekadashi.
This halwa stays good upto 3-4 days in refrigerator and can be frozen for a month. Whenever you want to serve to your family and friends, reheat it in microwave and enjoy.
So, let’s start how to make this halwa following the recipe step by step mentioned below.
Here are few more Indian desserts recipes to try:
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Lauki Halwa
- Total Time: 35
- Yield: 2 1x
Description
Lauki halwa or bottle gourd halwa is a rich Indian dessert recipe made using fresh grated bottle gourd, milk, sugar and with a generous amount of ghee. Garnish with some chopped dry fruits. Here is how to make lauki ka halwa recipe at home.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons ghee
- 2 cups bottle gourd (lauki), peeled and thick grated
- 1 cup full fat milk
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ teaspoon cardamom powder
For Garnish
- 6–8 cashew nuts, chopped
- 6–8 almonds, chopped
- Rose petals
- Silver vark
Instructions
- Peel and grate the bottle gourd.
- Heat 2 tablespoons ghee in a heavy bottom kadai on medium flame.
- Add grated lauki and sauté until the moisture dries completely or the water evaporates.
- Stir it and cook for some time, so it doesn’t burn. It takes about for 7-8 minutes.
- Then add milk, bring it to boil and then put it on low flame. Stir continuously in between..
- When the milk dries and lauki starts separating from the edges of the kadai.
- Add cardamom powder and sugar.
- Keep stirring continuously.
- Cook further till reach the required consistency of halwa.
- Finally, add cashew nuts and almonds on top.
- Garnish it with some rose petals and silver vark (optional).
- Serve hot or chilled.
Notes
- Always, choose fresh and tender bottle gourd to make lauki ka halwa recipe.
- Before using taste a piece of bottle gourd, if it tastes bitter or sour then discard it.
- To remove the bitterness, you can squeeze the water completely to speed up the cooking.
- Grate the lauki leaving behind the seeds, else dudhi halwa doesn’t taste good.
- If required, adjust the sweetness by adding more sugar.
- Keep stirring lauki halwa on medium flame else there are chances to burn from bottom.
- Last, lauki ka halwa taste great when prepared with generous amount of ghee.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 25 mins
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: Indian
