Dearies, I’m back after 2 months break, struggling to cope with normalcy after a tremendous loss. Yes, I lost my inspiration, my first guru, my mentor, my idol, my docent in cooking. As you all know well, who I’m referring to, it’s my mom, Mrs.Gnanambal Nagalingam. No one can deny the fact that their mother will be their first teacher and instructor in all aspects of their life which includes cooking as well. But my mother was so special, as she was a self-learner and achiever. Whoever had the opportunity to taste my mother’s feast, would have experienced her proficient and competent cooking skills. As a homage, I’ll share her recipes now and then. First on the list comes her halwas, which she made from veggies like Ash gourd, Bottle gourd, Beetroot, Sweet potato, etc. Her magical touch in all her dishes elevated it to the next level. She has no measuring spoon or cups in her kitchen, it was her eyes and hands which scaled the ingredients. Hope everyone agrees with it as you would have witnessed the cooking skills of our previous generations. Somehow, I managed to transcribe her recipe with measurements, making your life easier.
Click here to jump to recipe card!
Along with her recipe, I kick-start the Diwali sweets and snacks recipe’s theme for this month. I planned to give unique, simple, easy, and new variations to make your festive season colourful and flavourful.
I chose to make Bottle gourd halwa, which is also known as Surakkai halwa (Tamil) or Dudhi/lauki halwa (Hindi). This halwa will be slightly crunchy, mildly sweet and pleasingly colored, and garnished. This recipe calls for simple ingredients and preparation as well.
Unlike other recipes, my mother’s bottle gourd halwa recipe excludes milk. If you wish to transform this recipe to a vegan or lacto-free diet, substitute ghee with coconut oil. If your child is a finicky and fussy eater, who doesn’t include vegetables in their diet, this halwa is a windfall. Undoubtedly, who’s going to fuss about having a delicacy like this…😋🧡💛❤.
Three major ingredients involved in this recipe are-
1)Bottle gourd,
2)Ghee and
3)Sugar.
For flavour– you can add cardamom powder.
For colour– you can add turmeric powder.
For garnish– you can add raisins and nuts of your choice.
How can I disappoint my readers without my kitchen secret…😍. Here comes my Kitchen secret, where I contemplate with my leftovers and recreate it as a new dish. It can be a fusion or completely a novel recipe. Don’t forget to visit my kitchen secret page for incredible and innovative recipes with leftovers. Scroll down to check out the recipe for this Bottle gourd halwa leftover. Can’t wait till you scroll, then let me reveal it for you…😉🥰. I made an Instant, No Cooking Chocolate Roll with this leftover halwa. Intrigued…😋😋. Check out the Kitchen secret page for the detailed preparation of this Instant, No Cooking Chocolate Halwa Roll .
Let’s get into this recipe…
Peel and discard the inner seeds of the bottle gourd. Grate it finely and measure 2 cups (Should be tightly packed). Heat 3 tbsp ghee in a thick bottomed pan, add raisins and nuts of your choice. Brown them and keep them aside.
In the same ghee, sauté the grated bottle gourd with turmeric powder for a couple of minutes.
Then close and cook for 10 minutes in medium-low flame. Stir in between to avoid getting burnt.
After 10 minutes, it would have reduced in volume.
Now add 1 and a half cups water.
Mix well and let it cook for 20 minutes with lid closed at low flame, stir in between.
After the given time, open the lid, water would have been absorbed and the vegetable will be cooked. If you feel the vegetable is undercooked, add some more water and cook till it gets absorbed (refer notes). If the vegetable is cooked and still water is there, increase the flame and sauté with the lid open till it gets evaporated.
Later add 6 tbsp sugar (refer notes), cardamom powder, mix well and let it cook on low flame for 5-7 minutes.
Then increase the flame and cook for another 2 minutes. At this stage, you can see excess ghee leaving the sides and the halwa gathers a single mass.
Switch off the flame, strain the excess ghee (refer notes).
Transfer the halwa into a serving bowl and garnish with the roasted nuts and raisins.
Relish this simple still extravagant sweet from bottle gourd. It’s best when served hot/warm.
Recipe card
Preparation time: 5-10 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Cuisine: Indian
Category: Sweets
Serves: 4
Author: Manimala
Ingredients:
Bottle gourd/lauki/Surakkai (grated) – 2 cups tightly packed
Ghee – 3 tbsp
Sugar (unrefined cane sugar) – 6 tbsp
Water – 1 ½ cup
Cardamom powder – ½ tsp
Turmeric powder – 1/8 tsp
Cashew nuts – 5
Raisins – 1 tsp
Instructions:
- Peel and discard the inner seeds of the bottle gourd. Grate it finely and measure 2 cups (Should be tightly packed).
- Heat 3 tbsp ghee in a thick bottomed pan, add raisins and nuts of your choice. Brown them and keep them aside.
- In the same ghee, sauté the grated bottle gourd with turmeric powder for a couple of minutes, then close and cook for 10 minutes in medium-low flame. Stir in between to avoid getting burnt.
- After 10 minutes, it would have reduced in volume.
- Now add 1 and a half cups water, mix well and let it cook for 20 minutes with lid closed at low flame, stir in between.
- After the given time, open the lid, water would have been absorbed and the vegetable will be cooked. If you feel the vegetable is undercooked, add some more water and cook till it gets absorbed (refer notes).
- If the vegetable is cooked and still water is there, increase the flame and sauté with the lid open till it gets evaporated.
- Later add 6 tbsp sugar (refer notes), cardamom powder, mix well and let it cook on low flame for 5-7 minutes.
- Then increase the flame and cook for another 2 minutes. At this stage, you can see excess ghee leaving the sides and the halwa gathers a single mass.
- Switch off the flame, strain the excess ghee (refer notes), transfer the halwa into a serving bowl and garnish with the roasted nuts and raisins.
- Relish this simple still extravagant sweet from bottle gourd. It’s best when served hot/warm.
Notes:
- While grating, it leaves the water, don’t discard it, cook the veggie along with it.
- Arm power is required for grating, you can do it in a food processor which has a grating attachment to it. If you run through the mixer jar, it’ll not give the right texture, consistency to the halwa. Overlook the hard work (arm work) and grate it to get the right halwa texture.
- I like my halwa with a slightly crunchy texture, if you desire for soft texture, then increase water by another half cup. Adjust the quantity of water accordingly.
- As I stated above, milk is not included in this recipe. If you want your halwa softer and richer, feel free to add milk.
- Similarly, sweetness differs from individual to individual. If you are a person who likes desserts with mild sweetness like me, then this measurement of sugar is sufficient. You can adjust according to your palate requirements.
- For coloring, I preferred natural colours, so I went with turmeric powder. But make sure you add turmeric to the grated veggie and sauté with it to get rid of any raw smell.
- Maintain medium-low flame throughout the process to avoid halwa getting burnt. You can parallelly work with other chores, just keep an eye on and off with this halwa, as it’s getting cooked in low flame.
- The excess ghee strained after the final stage can be reused for cooking.
- For garnishing, you can use cashews or almonds, pista.
Now it’s time for my kitchen secret… 😉😍.
I made an Instant, No Cooking Chocolate Halwa Roll with this leftover halwa. Intrigued…😋😋. Let me explain the process. Ground any digestive biscuits into fine powder. Mix it with cocoa powder and powdered sugar. Knead into a smooth dough by adding milk gradually. Then roll it into a disc and stuff it with the leftover bottle gourd halwa. Roll this gently as a cylinder and refrigerate for minimum of 2 hours. Later cut into rondelles.
Check out the Kitchen secret page for the detailed preparation and measurements for this Instant, No Cooking Chocolate Halwa Roll
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