Lauki kheer or bottle gourd pudding is an easy kheer recipe. Kheer is an Indian dessert where whole milk is cooked with sugar, grated veggies, rice or fruits. Some people who cannot do very tough fasting during Navratri and sawan include bottlegourd in their diet. This festive vrat recipe is easy to cook. It also helps you balance your diet during long periods of fasting. Bottle gourd is also called as hulu, calabash, long melon. This humble doodhi or ghiya and is easily available in most parts of the world.
When fasting, we can make delicious dishes , Check out this top 10 list of fasting recipes here. Get creative and make dry fruit modak, Strawberry modak, anjeer roll, and gluten free gulab jamun.
Lauki benefits
- It is very easy to digest. Hence it is highly recommended for those recovering from illness or injury.
- One of those veggies which is great for diabetics.
- Helps control weight.
- It is a natural diuretic
- A good source of vitamins and Iron.
- Excellent way to control hypertension and UTI.
- Great for recovery, post pregnancy.
How to make a kheer?
Making kheer is no rocket science. In order to make kheerni or payasam, we cook the veggies grain or non citrus fruits of our choice in boiling milk on a low flame. You can make many different types of kheer like apple kheer, sago or sabudana, makhane or lotus seeds, shakarkandi and rice. You can also make it from carrots, pumpkin, black rice, seviyan, dalia or broken wheat.
Equipment
- Saucepan
- Grater
- Frying pan
Ingredients
- full cream milk
- bottle gourd / opo squash / lauki grated
- powdered sago/sabudana powder
- sugar
- pistachios chopped for garnish
- ghee
Instructions
- Peel the bottle gourd and remove the seeds. Grate it using a grater. Heat ghee in a pan. Add grated lauki to it.
- Cook on low flame until it becomes soft and translucent.
- Heat milk in a sauce pan. Add powdered sabudana and sugar to it. Mix with a whisk, allow to boil and turn off the heat. Keep it aside to cool down.
Optionally strain it through a sieve so that any lumps are removed.
- Now add milk to the cooked bottle gourd and mix well. Let it come to a boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
- Optionally, garnish lauki kheer recipe with chopped pistachios. Serve lauki kheer warm, cold or at room temperature as per choice.
Top tip
- Always cut a piece of bottle gourd on both the ends and in the middle, to see if it is bitter. Bitter vegetable can cause acute food poisoning.
Variation
If bottle gourd is not easily available, you can also use grated zucchini instead of ghiya to make this recipe. You can also add some saffron strands soaked in milk or teaspoon cardamom powder to this recipe while you stir it for freshness.
Substitution
- Always use full cream milk to make kheer. Light milk can also be used along with milk powder or make kheer recipe with milkmaid for best results.
- Increase the sugar as per your taste. You may make a condensed milk kheer if you like while making this recipe. However, it will not be easy to regulate sugar while using such high sugar ingredients. So adjust your sugar and heavy milk accordingly.
Related recipes
Storage
Store the kheer as in case of all dairy recipes, in refrigerator.
FAQ
Apart from above listed recipes you can make delicious recipes like
1. Lauki ka Halwa: All kids love a lauki halwa, even if they didnt like dudhi. Upcoming recipe.
2. Lauki ka raita : Easy grated bottle gourd added to yogurt.
3. bottle gourd chilla and muthia are other tasty recipes.
4. Sorakaya chutney
Lauki ki kheer recipe | doodhi kheer recipe
Equipment
- saucepan
- Grater
- frying pan
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon ghee
- 2 cup bottle gourd / lauki grated
- 3 cup milk full cream
- 2 tbsp. sugar increase as per taste.
- 2 tbsp. sabudana powder/flour or rajgira flour
- 1 tbsp. pistachios chopped for garnish
Instructions
- Peel the bottle gourd and remove the seeds. Grate it using a grater.
- Heat ghee in a pan. Add grated lauki to it.
- Cook on low flame until it becomes soft and translucent.
- Heat milk in a sauce pan. Add powdered powder and sugar to it. Mix with a whisk, allow to boil and turn off the heat. Keep it aside to cool down.
- Optionally strain it through a sieve so that any lumps are removed.
- Now add milk to the cooked bottle gourd / lauki and mix well. Let it come to a boil.
- Optionally, garnish with chopped pistachios. Serve cold or at room temperature as per choice.
Notes
Food safety
Always reheat your leftovers.
Keep kitchen well ventilated while cooking.
Always wash hands before cooking.
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