BOTTLE GOURD HALWA

Bottle gourd is a vegetable high on water and a rich source of vitamin C, K and calcium. It helps in maintaining health of heart and brings down bad cholesterol levels. It is said that juice of bottle gourd is beneficial for diabetic patients as it helps to stabilizes the blood sugar level and maintains blood pressure.
Bottle gourd is one of the chief culinary vegetables in many tropical and temperate regions . It is fast growing climber and we get it all around the year.
We can use bottle gourd for juice, vegetable preparation, flat bread, steamed dumplings and in sweets and desserts. The most popular Indian sweet from bottle gourd is Dudhi halwa or lauki halwa.

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves : 4 persons

Ingredients:

1 kg bottle gourd
1 litre full cream milk
3/4 cup or to taste sugar
1 tsp cardamom powder
Dry fruits of your choice
4 tbsp ghee

Method:
1. Wash, peel and grate bottle gourd.
2. Heat ghee in a non stick pan and saute grated bottle gourd for 3-5 minutes on a slow flame.

3. Now add milk and turn the flame on high, stir occasionally.

4. After cooking for 5 minutes on high ,add sugar ,mix well and turn the flame on slow to medium after 1 minute.

5. Cook on slow to medium flame till all the milk turns to solid, ghee and halwa leaves the sides of the pan. Add cardamom powder and dry fruits , mix and turn off the heat.

6. Serve hot or chilled.

Note:

1. Can add khoya ( dehydrated milk solids ) or condensed milk.