Blogging has really taken a back seat this month as our summer break is in full swing. I am trying my best to keep up with my BM buddies to finish the theme, but I am invariably running a day or two late. Dad is visiting us as well and we have been going around a bit. His vacation is very short though and the boys have already started begging him to extend his vacation. This week the theme for BM is cooking 3 different recipes with one vegetable. The vegetable I chose is Lauki / bottle gourd. When I saw Sapana post her bottle gourd burfi a few months back, I fell in love with the recipe and I made it right away. She was very helpful and cleared my many doubts when I made the recipe. This Lauki burfi is a very quick and easy recipe and tastes really good. My husband is a big fan of white pumpkin halwa and I was hoping that this would be close to the flavor. The south Indian version of the burfi or halwa does not use mawa, but this dudhi burfi has mawa in it. That did change the flavor for us, but it did not matter for my husband as he loves sweets. Preparation time – 10 minutesCooking time – 45 minutesDifficulty level – easy
Ingredients to make Lauki Burfi – Makes about 20 small pieces
Lauki / Bottle gourd – 2 ½ cups (grated) Sugar – 1 ½ cups (for less sweet burfi, use 1 ¼ cups) Mawa – ½ cup Ghee – 2 tbsp Cardamom – 4 (skin removed and powdered) Cashews – 10
Procedure –
Grate the lauki/bottle gourd. I used the large-size grater to grate the lauki.
In a wide pan, add about 1 tablespoon of ghee. Fry the cashew pieces and keep them aside on a plate.
In the same pan add the remaining ghee and then add the grated lauki to the pan. Cook it on medium flame, stirring frequently.
When cooking the lauki, cover the pan as that enables you to cook the lauki faster. Also, make sure that you keep stirring the pan as the vegetable might stick to the bottom of the pan.
If the lauki is sticking too much in the pan, sprinkle some water and then cook. This takes about 25 minutes and it is very important to stay close to the pan and be patient. The lauki has to cook entirely so that the raw smell of the vegetable is removed.
Once the lauki is entirely cooked and very soft, add the sugar.
The mixture would liquefy once the sugar is added. Keep cooking until the mixture thickens. This could take about 10 minutes.
Add the mawa and the cardamom powder. Reduce the heat to low and cook until the lauki burfi leaves the sides of the pan.
At this stage add the roasted cashews and mix well.
Transfer the lauki burfi to a greased plate and let it cool down. When the burfi has cooled down a bit, make lines with a knife to mark the burfi pieces.
Cut the lauki burfi entirely when it has cooled entirely. This can be kept in room temperature for a day or 2 and then can be stored refrigerated.
Other Kids Friendly Ideas
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