Doodhi Halwa

If you follow Shital's kitchen on Facebook, you know that I love gardening and my husband and I spend lots of time in the backyard doing some organic farming. I like to call it #shitalskitchengarden. We are still learning and experimenting with lots of fruits and vegetables. You might have also seen a picture of my greenhouse with a heater which is specially for my tropical plants to be comfortable in winter. But, why am I talking about plants and gardening in winter??? Yes, I am super excited today.

We have been experimenting with growing bottle gourd/doodhi/lauki since past two years now. Last summer we realized that bottle gourds have male and female flowers and for better crop, we sometimes need to hand pollinate it. Before summer, we put seeds in the soil and let the plant grow. It did well but the entire summer passed by in just growing vines with not a single flower. We were really sad. I had planned to make so many recipes with homegrown doodhi. Doodhi vines took support of our huge pomegranate tree and was super happy. It grew like the story 'Jack and the bean stacks'...it would grow higher and higher and almost about 10-12 feet high on the top of the pomegranate tree. Finally in fall, the plant started flowering, but how would we even be able to pollinate it? We were just glad it flowered and left it on nature (bees) to do the job. But we realized his was a good spot to sow seeds, and we should be ahead of the game next season. I like the idea of vines taking support of the tall and strong trees nearby. They look happy and strong too.

Yes, nature did the job and finally today we were able to harvest our first even medium sized bottle gourd. It was firm and looked great. It was hanging almost 12 feet from the ground, and my husband had to use a tall ladder the pluck it. I just enjoyed taking pictures. :) We were brainstorming on which recipe to make? It had to be a special recipe as the produce was very special too. Homegrown, organic, bottle gourd or doodhi harvested in winter!! My husband wanted a sweet... doodhi halwa and yes it would be a perfect offering for God too to thank Him for this produce.

Finally, after a long time, I am sharing my excitement through this recipe.

Ingredients
2 cups grated doodhi/lauki/bottle gourd/ghiya
1 tbsp ghee
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp. fresh cream or malai (optional)
6 tbsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. cardamom powder
Slivered almonds and pistachios for garnishing

Wash, peel, and grate fresh bottle gourd.
In a heavy bottom pan heat ghee. Add grated doodhi and saute for 3-4 minutes.
Add milk and fresh cream/malai.
Mix once and leave it undisturbed simmering till the milk evaporates. Evaporating milk will create some soft mawa in the halwa. Stirring constantly will disturb mawa. Stirring lightly is okay, but do not stir it vigorously. If you do not have malai, add 1/4 cup store bought crumbled mawa to cooking halwa.
When moisture evaporates, add 6-7 tbsp sugar and cardamom powder. Mix well.
Cook till the moisture is almost gone....this might take around 10 minutes.
Remove in a bowl and garnish with slivered almonds.

Here is step-by-step pictorial recipe:

Bottle gound vines on our pomegranate tree. Finally, first bottle gourd produced.

Wash, peel, and grate fresh bottle gourd.

A good quality, firm, and seedless bottle gourd.

In a heavy bottom pan heat ghee. Add grated doodhi and saute for 3-4 minutes.

Add milk and fresh cream/malai.

Mix once and leave it undisturbed simmering till the milk evaporates. Evaporating milk will create some soft mawa in the halwa. Stirring constantly will disturb mawa. Stirring lightly is okay, but do not stir it vigorously. If you do not have malai, add 1/4 cup store bought crumbled mawa to cooking halwa.