Ashgourd halwa / kashi halwa / vellai pooshanikkai halwa

I have never tasted homemade ash gourd halwa before. whenever i buy ash gourd, i used to make either sambar or kootu out of it. And this time, i made up my mind to make halwa with this wonderful winter melon. Thank God! the halwa turned out to be so delicious. My husband and i enjoyed relishing the sweet. Ash gourd has so many medicinal properties. It is used in the treatment of ulcers.

Ingredients

• grated Ash gourd 2cups
• sugar 1-1/2cup
• cardamoms 3
• milk 1cup
• roasted cashews 5
• roasted almonds 5
• raisins few
• orange food color a pinch
• saffron strands 3-4

Method

• Take a mature ash gourd which should not be spongy or soft. remove the seeds and skin of the vegetable and grate it. squeeze the grated vegetable thoroughly and remove all the water content in it.
• Heat a nonstick pan and add the squeezed grated ash gourd in it and just saute it in low flame such that all the remaining water gets removed.
• Add sugar, cardamoms to it. mix it well.
• Add 1cup of milk to this and slow cook the vegetable in boiling milk. cook until the milk is thoroughly absorbed by the vegetable. You will get a semisolid mass of ash gourd.
• Add 3- 4tbsp of ghee slowly and keep stirring till you get the consistency of halwa.
• In this stage, add orange food color, roasted nuts and saffron strand.
• when the halwa is ready, serve it and enjoy.