Kashi Halwo /Kushmanda halwo is a popular sweet prepared from ash gourd / kuvale . This is popular among us Konkanis as Kuvale halwo too . This is served at wedding feasts and a favourite sweet made on various occasions . When I got a large piece of home grown Ash gourd – I decided to make this dish ..This is quite easy to make though it needs a lot of attention and stirring & takes up nearly an hour to make , So let’s see the recipe .
Ingredients :-
- Grated Ash gourd/ Kuvale – 3 cups
- Sugar – 1 cup
- Cashewnuts – a handful
- Ghee/desi ghee – 1/4 cup
- Cardamom/Elaichi powder – 1 tsp
- Saffron – a few strands or any other food colour ( Optional – I did not add )
Method :-
- Choose a fresh piece of Kuvale
- First wash & then peel the skin of the Kuvale .
- Grate the pieces with a grater , Do not use a Mixer to grate as the hand grated form is best for this .
- Transfer to a thick bottomed kadai along with its water – DO NOT discard the juice .
- Start cooking it until the juice has totally evaporated . Do not forget to keep stirring often ,
- Now add the sugar and keep stirring .
- The sugar will melt , Keep cooking till it has become dry again .
- Now add the ghee and keep stirring more often .
- Keep cooking till it has thickened considerably .
- Add the cashews & cardamom powder .Now keep stirring continuously on medium flame till it comes all together ,,the crystallized sugar will give an awesome colour .
- . Now it’s ready . you can remove to a serving bowl . This tastes best when served warm .This will keep for a week when kept in refrigeration . ( of course it may get consumed long before that 😀
Notes :-
- Do not discard the juice . Cook along with it ,
- Cook the grated kuvale in low to medium flame only – so that it does not burn .
- Add the sugar only after the juice has dried out completely .
- In the last stage keep stirring uniformly so that the halwo does not stick to the bottom & burns .
