The weather here in our part of the woods has taken a major turn. From scorching heat 2-3 weeks ago, we are now experiencing rains through out the day. The weather has cooled down quite a bit now and the plants in our yard are getting their good share of water. The rains during the weekend and the gloomy outcast prompted us to stay back at home more than we usually do. No complaints about that as I got to do some experimenting in the kitchen with some new recipes and also got to watch the US Open.
Few days ago, dear friend Upsi got us some Bottle gourd right out of her garden. Now this is one vegetable that we do not use frequently in our kitchen, maybe occasionally in sambhar, but other than that I did not use it much in my cooking.
Thanks to the rains I had the bandwidth to try out new things. After much thought I decided to make this Bottle gourd Kheer/ Dudhi Kheer/ Gardudde Paays that my mom used to make often when we were kids. I used to like it much better than the Shevai Kheer and my mom used to make it as a treat for me.
Based on some information gathering over the internet, I found that Bottle gourd is called as gardudde(Konkani), lauki(Hindi).Sorekayi (Kannada). Growing up I used to have lots of confusion about different vegetables, beans and lentils. Not the regular or the frequently used ones, but the ones that were used occasionally like Bottle Gourd, Ridge Gourd etc. I would refer to some in Konkani, some in Marathi, some in Kannada and the rest in English. ? Now that I write a recipe blog, I hope I have the information right!
Note: The quantity of Chana Daal/Bengal gram can be increased as per taste. Some people like daal in their payasam while other’s do not. Make sure the chana daal is not over cooked. It needs to have a bite to it.
The Sabudana can be substituted with Roasted fine Rava/Sooji. It is added to give some thickness to the Kheer. Adding saffron strands is optional; the original Kheer that my mom used to make did not have kesar in it. I added it for some flavor and color. So please feel free to skip it.
Ingredients:
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2 cups grated bottle gourd/lauki
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½ cup chana daal/ Bengal gram daal (soaked in water for 4-5 hours)
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¼ cup sago/sabudana (soak for 1 hour)
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5 cups milk (1% or 2%/ Whole milk is fine too)
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water (depends on how thick you prefer the kheer to be) I used 2 small cups of water.
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3/4 cup sugar
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½ cup shredded coconut (optional)
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2 tsp ghee
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½ tsp Cardamom powder
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5-10 cashew pieces
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10-15 raisins
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Kesar/saffron few strands (optional)
Preparation:
- Peel the bottle gourd and grate it. Pressure cook the grated gourd along with the soaked chana daal. Make sure the chana daal does not over cook.
- Heat the ghee in a heavy bottomed pan over medium heat and fry cashews till golden brown, next add raisins and fry until they plump up. Keep them aside.
- Make a fine paste of coconut along with little water. This is optional. Sabudana gives enough thickness to this kheer.
Method:
- Please read the Note above before you proceed.
- Take a heavy bottom pan, pour the milk, water in the pan and bring to boil.
- Reduce the flame and then add cooked chana daal, bottle gourd, soaked sabudana, sugar, saffron strands and fine coconut paste and let this simmer for about 20 minutes ( or until it thickens up a little).
- Stir this whole thing in between, so that it does not settle at the bottom.
- Remove from flame and then add cardamom, cashews and raisins. Cool to room temperature. Note that after it is cooled the entire thing will thicken a lot.
- This can also be served cold by keeping it in the refrigerator.
Another delicious recipe Supriya. Loved this kheer growing up as well but I don’t think my mom put chana dal or sagoo in it. I just have one question. You mentioned putting water and milk in the pan. Can you explain how much water and why? Thanks.
Jaya thanks for the question. I saw that I missed some explanation about water in the post. I have updated it now.The Kheer thickens after boiling for 20-0 minutese and also after cooling. So I prefer to add about 2 small cups of water to give it that not-so-thick consistency.
Nver tried it RC,it Looks great.
gorgeous! looks absolutely tempting. Yum!
This is the second time as many days I am seeing a pudding with a vegetable…looks very nice..
Never tried combining sago with bottle gourd. Looks so yummy!
I love this…lovely presenttaion..even I have a version of bottlegourd halwa i n my blog..
hey thats wonderful combo of bottlegourd, sago and channa .. i know halwa and kheer this is absolutely tempting and interesting recipe and i have bookmarked it.. will try it out soon and thanks for sharing..picture perfect.. So healthy too.,
Its reeeeallly long since I had this…Was never a fan of kheer, but now somedays, I love to have something sweet, especially after a sunday lunch…I have a bottle gourd lying around, will perhaps make it this weekend…RC, did I tell you I made your baked nippattu and it was such a hit…Miss the bangalore bakeries, but this was way better
I never thought of using vegetables this delectably. Recently ventured to use in soups as base. The sweet version will be a wonderful dish to add to the list of to trys!
How unusual, the only bottlegourd kheer I have heard of is grated and with milk, never came across one with chana dal and sago, it looks beautiful.
Yummy and Delicious recipe,Nice presentation.you can visit my blog,view recipes and post ur comments
I have made gardudde paays…but vthout daal nd saago… must try out this way too the bowls of kheer luks gr8.
Wow…that’s an delectable and yum looking kheer….The more I scroll the post…the more Iam hungry…..
Thats a delicious kheer that to with sago, looks gorgeous!
Hi………payas looks so yummy….heard of bottle gourd halwa but not payas…..so for sure…I’m going to give it a try….bye
This version is completely new to me. Looks great.Beautiful click.
I have learnt to make bottle gourd halwa … shall try this too. I just love the texture of the dals in payasam and sweets .. yet to master the art of making them perfectly. Lovely presentation RC!
Very nice recipe and a new one for me.I tried a halwa recently with this sorekai.Check my blog.Which part of Dallas do u reside?I stay in Frisco, it will be nice if we can catch up.http://soumyarun.blogspot.com/2009/09/sorekai-halwa.html
Soumya, thanks. I will send you email soon
That is most innovative recipe for bottle gourd that I have come across. I am not a big fan of it but this I want to try.
Now you have me confused I thought dudhi/doodhi and lauki both meant bottle gourd.
ISG, you are right. I did some more looking up over the internet and Dudhi is indeed Lauki and it is bottle gourd.
Beautiful pictures Supriya..
Lovely one, Supriya!I love the Sago in the pic..They are like lil’ pearls:)
Veggie eaten in kheer form, quiet innovative and droolworthy!
Yeah..we also prepare doodhi kheer and doodhi adds mild sweet flavor. Never tried with chana dal though. Your prepared bowl of Kheer is so inviting RC.
Thanks for sharing them.
Looks yummy!! Loved it!!
Looks lovely!
Can you believe it started raining again today? i am not complaining;-)
I have had dudhi kheer, but just grated dudhi boiled with milk & cardamom nuts etc. This is a very different version, really curious to find out how it will taste!
Thanks for letting me know I can sub the sago with rava… shall try sometime soon.
with lauki, that pretty little dessert up there? really?
well.. i’ll eat it if you don’t tell me it has lauki in it
Thank you all very much for the warm comments. Adding chana daal not only adds thickness, but also some bite to the kheer.
I too have heard about bottle gourd payasam and halwa but have not tried it. BG is not used in my place to quite often. Somehow we don’t like the smell. Last year I came across Valli’s kurma recipe using sorakai and we all loved it so much and is a regular now. You should try it too.
http://cooking4allseasons.blogspot.com/2008/07/chettinadu-sorakkai-kurma-bottle-gourd.html
I’m definitely trying this payasam recipe very soon.