Ingredients
Lauki
- 1 medium bottle gourd (about 700g after peeling and seeding, grated)
Halwa
- 3 tbsp ghee
- 1 cup whole milk
- ½ cup (100g) sugar
- ¼ cup (50g) khoya (mawa), crumbled — or 2 tbsp condensed milk
- ½ tsp ground cardamom
- Pinch of saffron strands soaked in 2 tbsp warm milk (optional)
- ½ tsp rose water (optional, added at the end)
Garnish
- 2 tbsp cashews, roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp slivered pistachios
Instructions
Prepare the lauki
- Peel the lauki, halve lengthwise, and scoop out the seeds and any spongy center with a spoon. Grate the flesh on the coarse side of a box grater.
- Take the grated lauki in small handfuls and squeeze firmly over the sink — use your full grip. You are aiming to remove as much water as possible. Continue until all the lauki has been squeezed and the extracted liquid is milky-white. Discard the liquid. The squeezed lauki should feel damp but not wet.
Fry in ghee
- Heat ghee in a wide, heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat.
- Add cashews and fry until light golden. Remove and set aside.
- Add the squeezed lauki to the pan. It will spit briefly as residual moisture hits the ghee. Stir well to coat with ghee.
- Fry over medium heat, stirring frequently, for 8–10 minutes. The lauki will start to look translucent and smell faintly sweet. This frying stage builds flavor — don't skip it by going straight to milk.
Cook with milk
- Pour in the milk and stir well. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium.
- Cook, stirring frequently, for 12–15 minutes until the milk is fully absorbed and the mixture looks soft and dry. The lauki will become very tender and the mixture should hold together without pooling liquid.
Add sugar and finish
- Add sugar and stir through. The sugar will release a little moisture — cook on medium heat, stirring, for 3–4 minutes until absorbed.
- Add crumbled khoya (or condensed milk), cardamom, and saffron milk. Stir well and cook for 2–3 minutes until fully combined and glossy.
- If using rose water, add it off heat and stir through.
- Fold in fried cashews. Garnish with slivered pistachios. Serve warm.
Storage
- Fridge: Up to 4 days. Reheat in a pan with a splash of milk or a teaspoon of ghee over low heat, stirring until soft. It loses some delicacy on reheating but is still good.
- Freeze: Freezes adequately, though the texture softens slightly. Best eaten fresh or within a day.
Variations
- Condensed milk version: Replace khoya with 3 tbsp condensed milk and reduce sugar to ⅓ cup. Easier to source and produces a creamier, slightly softer halwa.
- Without milk: Use ½ cup evaporated milk instead of whole milk and skip the khoya — produces a lighter, less rich version for those watching calories.
- Zucchini substitute: Green zucchini works with exactly the same method. The color is slightly different (more yellow-green) and the flavor is milder, but the technique is identical.
Notes
- The squeezing step is non-negotiable. Lauki is mostly water — insufficiently squeezed lauki produces a watery, pale halwa that takes twice as long to cook and tastes diluted.
- Choose a firm, young lauki — smaller ones (around 500–700g whole) are less bitter and have fewer seeds. Very large, old laukis can be bitter; taste a small piece before using.
- Sugar quantity is modest here because lauki has almost no natural sweetness. Taste after adding sugar and adjust if needed.
- The color will be pale cream to light green — this is correct. Lauki halwa does not caramelize as dramatically as carrot. Don't overcook chasing a deeper color.
Added Oct 6, 2026 · Updated Oct 6, 2026