Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Kashi Halwa (Winter melon halwa)

We normally go for shopping with our 30 months naughty Junior, who keeps pulling everything while passing by. Intelligent hubby makes me hold my son & he continues with the shopping. My son helps his father, pick the tomatoes, capsicum & other vegetables :p

Me: Buy phuay leng (Chinese Spinach), coriander leaves, carrot, winter melon....
Hubby: Hold on...recession time, try to avoid unnecessary items ;) Also, cook for the family & not for blog or blog events ;)
Me: do you think I just prepare it for the event, take pictures & throw the food prepared?? Don't we all enjoy eating the same food??

Him: Okay okay...this time, I will buy that big winter melon , prepare halwa for me.

Me: OK..done !!.

...and so it goes.

As I have mentioned before, my hubby is crazy for sweets. He does not mind skipping a meal & relishing on sweets. He finally bought a winter melon weighing almost 3kilos & I prepared halwa with 2.5kilos for two of us at home :D It took me around 1.5 hours to prepare the halwa. This is again a very time consuming dish, but you will forget the efforts put to prepare this as soon as you take a bite. Halwa just melts inside & our taste buds dance out of joy.
I enjoyed preparing this thoroughly, hubby enjoyed eating & hope you also would enjoy reading it.

Ingredients:
3 cups grated winter melon/kumbalakayi
1.5 cups sugar or a little more (adjust according to taste)
1 tbsp cashew nuts
1 tsp raisins
½ tsp cardamom powder
4-6 strands of saffron (optional)
3 tbsp ghee/clarified butter

Method:

  • Peel the skin of the winter melon, discard the skin & the seeds. Grate the melon & squeeze out water from the grated melon. Try to squeeze as much water as possible.
  • Take a broad pan, add 1 tsp ghee. Fry the grated melon for a minute or until raw smell disappears. Scoop out the melon & pressure cook for 2-3 whistles (don’t add milk or water while pressure cooking). Allow it to cool.
  • Take a thick bottomed pan, add the cooked melon along with water (it releases tremendous water when pressure cooked, don’t discard that water). Keep the flame on medium, & start stirring until all the water is absorbed (it might take 15 mins or so).
  • Mix sugar now & you would see water appear again in the pan :) Keep stirring once a while until water is absorbed (20 mins or so)
  • When most of the water is absorbed, add 1tbsp ghee, cardamom powder & start stirring rigorously until it forms a single mass like shown below.
  • The grated winter melon would plump up now & starts looking like a small grain.Turn off the flame & allow it to cool. Meantime, fry the cashew nuts & raisins in the remaining ghee & pour this to the prepared halwa. Add saffron strands & mix well.
  • Serve the halwa hot, warm or cold.

This is also known as kumbalakayi halwa, dumroot. I love to eat this halwa with vanilla ice-cream. Simply divine !!!!

22 comments:

  1. Slurp!!looks yum. I love this sweet, make it in Summer when I grow too many gourds! :))

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  2. Slurp!! I love it. I make this sweet in Summer when I grow too many Gourds! :)

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  3. Halwa looks mouthwatering Sushma

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  4. nice read...halwa looks tempting....

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  5. Hi Sushma,
    LOL....it's the same with me my husband also tells me the same 'cooking for blog-sake n to click snaps...I burst out laughing sometimes and let him that he is J abt mt blog affair ;)
    Neways hmm...u must've bn tired at the end of preparation as it's time consuming...aiyo can I think of making this one sometime :)
    nice one again sushma, great going!Enjoy!
    tc

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  6. wow! one of my favs ...actaully serching for the recipe ..Thanks a toone for posting :)

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  7. mmm, mouthwatering dish... It has turned out really well...

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  8. Ha ..Slurp..Mouthwatering..Love Kashi halwa..Yummm

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  9. wow..your hubby might be happy man now..lols..That halwa looks melt -in-mouth kind..Great one Sushma..:)

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  10. LOL at "Also, cook for the family & not for blog or blog events". Halwa looks absolutely divine and yummy! The taste is worth the work involved.

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  11. Wow..I love this halwa..Yummyyy :)

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  12. YUmmo! innu idre swalpa eekade parcel kalisi :)

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  13. kashi halwa looks yummm...I enjoy eating it during weddings...

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  14. Recession Recession Recession....Good times and bad....Halwa looks glossy and yum. Never tries this veggie till now...

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  15. Yummy.....yumm...yummm...halwa looks so delicious.....

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  16. My hubby also says that I cook only for the blog .. :) I guess its the same case everywhere .. Love kashi halwa .. looks delicious

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  17. WOW, mouth watering kashi halwa Sushma!! My mom makes it with jaggery instead of sugar !! Love it !!

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  18. @Ashakka,
    wow!!, that is amazing to grow the gourds & then cook. Halwa tastes great when the vegetable is fresh :) Thanks for your lovely comments.

    @Trupti, Priya, Shama,
    Thanks a lot for your inspiring comments.

    @Suparna,
    though it is tiring, the end result is fabulous. Do try it once & you'll prepare it often.

    @Mangala Bhat,
    you are welcome dear :)

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  19. Mouth watering halwa. Nice click

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  20. Long time since i relished pumpkin alwa.. Sure must have been delish

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  21. warhammermer09 May, 2010 12:48

    Looks really yummy. I saw this when I was looking for winter melon recipes. I wish I had a pressure cooker to try this dish.

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