Recipe Title: Dudhi ( Lauki, bottle gourd) Halwa and Dudhpak
Pravin Turakhia
Prep Time: 10 minutes.
Cook Time: 15-20 minutes.
Total Time: 35-40 minutes.
Ingredients
- Grated Dudhi (Lauki, bottle gourd)- 4 cups.
- Almond or Cashew Creamer – 1 1/2 cup (store bought or homemade – check recipe below).
- Cardamom powder- 1/2 tsp.
- Pistachio and Cashews- few.
- Green food color- 1 tsp (optional).
- Grapeseed oil or vegan ghee- 5 tsp.
- Cashew powder – 2 tsp (optional).
- Vegan sugar as per taste.
Instructions:
Preparation
- Peel the dudhi (lauki) and scoop out its seeds.
- Grate it using a fine grater and measure the same. Keep it aside.
Method
- Heat a heavy bottom pan with 3 tsp of grapeseed oil or vegan ghee and add grated dudhi (lauki).
- Stir constantly till the moisture evaporates completely and raw smell of the dudhi disappears. Then pour creamer into the pan.
- Let the dudhi (lauki) get cooked completely in the creamer on a low flame. Keep stirring often to avoid burning at the bottom. Add food color (optional to get rich green color) and mix well.
- Add in rest of the oil/vegan ghee and a few cashew pieces, and cardamom powder or broken seeds. If needed, add some creamer and cashew powder.
- Stir until halwa becomes thick.
- Turn off the gas once done.
- Garnish with sliced pistachio.
- Yummy dudhi halwa is ready to be served as a dessert.
Notes
- Ensure the grated dudhi doesn’t stick to the bottom. Burning at the bottom may induce some smoky smell.
- If you don’t like the use of food color, then you can skip it too. In that case the color of the halwa remains pale as bottle gourd.
- If you like it sweeter, you may add some sugar when adding the remaining oil/vegan ghee.
- Check if the store-bought creamer is sweet and add sugar as required.
Stage 2: Making Dudhi Dudhpak
- To the dudhi halwa, add 2 cups almond milk and 1 cup Almond creamer, stir up well and heat up on a stove top or in a microwave for about 2-3 minutes.
- Garnish with pistachio and almond slices. You may add charoli (chironji) at the time of cooking.
Homemade cashew/almond cream:
Ingredients
1 cup cashews/ almonds.
Water is needed.
Instructions:
Method:
- Wash the cashews or almonds a couple of times and soak for 2-3 hours.
- Rinse the cashews/ almonds again and blend with ½ cup fresh water. The consistency should be thick like a paste. Add more water if needed.
Notes:
To avoid the slight brown tinge in the almond paste, remove the skin before blending.
This can be stored in an airtight container for 2-3 days.