Delicious kheer made with bottle gourd or opo squash.
Recipe Snapshot
- Prep time: 5 minutes
- Cook time: 25 minutes
- Total time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 3
- Category: Desserts
- Cuisine: North Indian
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon ghee (or a neutral flavored oil)
- 200 grams lauki (or 1 cup grated lauki (dudhi or ghia or bottle gourd or opo squash))
- 2.5 cups full fat milk
- 1 pinch saffron strands
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon cardamom powder
- 5 tablespoon sugar (or add as required)
- 5 to 6 dried rose petals, (crushed (optional))
- 1 to 2 teaspoon rose water ((optional))
- 12 to 15 cashews
- 1 tablespoon raisins (- optional)
Method
Sauteing lauki
- Rinse, peel and grate 200 grams lauki (half of a medium sized lauki). You should get 1 cup grated lauki.
- In a thick bottomed pan, heat ghee or a neutral flavored oil. Add the lauki.
- Stir the lauki well and begin to saute it on a low to medium heat.
- Stirring often, saute for 4 to 5 minutes.
Making lauki ki kheer
- Then add fresh whole milk and stir.
- On a low to medium heat simmer the milk stirring at intervals, so that the milk does not scorch at the bottom of the pan.
- After 5 to 6 minutes, add a pinch of saffron strands.
- Continue to simmer milk till it comes to a gentle boil.
- Keep on cooking milk, till its reduced a bit. Stir often and scrape the milk solids from the sides and add them to the simmering milk. Overall cook the milk for 16 to 20 minutes, stirring often.
- Once the milk has reduced a bit, add sugar as per your taste.
- Stir the sugar with the kheer mixture.
- Then add cardamom powder and cashews.
- Simmer the kheer for 2 to 3 minutes more.
- Lastly switch off the heat and add rose water.
- Then add 5 to 6 dried rose petals (crushed). Skip rose petals if you do not have.
- Now you can serve lauki ki kheer hot or warm or chilled. On cooling, the consistency of the lauki kheer will thicken.
Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note
Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.