Kashi Halwa with Winter Melon and Jaggery
Kashi halwa is a rich, delicious sweet made using ash gourd or winter melon. Traditionally made with sugar, this popular sweet dish is commonly prepared during special occasions such as festivals and weddings in Karnataka.
While making this sweet at home, I prefer using jaggery over sugar as a healthy alternative but you can choose to use either. The recipe is super simple and easy to make, requiring minimal ingredients. The only (slightly) tedious part of this recipe for me would be grating the winter melon. But with that ready, this sweet takes approximately 15 minutes to get done. I do make this on regular days, especially when I find fresh ash gourd at the grocery store, but mindfully limit the usage of ghee by half (calories lol). However, when prepared on special occasions, I go all out and enjoy!
check out other ash gourd recipes here: Majjige huli
Kashi Halwa using Winter Melon and Jaggery
Equipment
- thick-bottomed cooking pan
Ingredients
- 200 g winter melon or ash gourd thinly grated
- 2 tbsp cashews
- 1 tbsp raisins used here are black raisins, you can use the same or golden raisins.
- 3 tbsp jaggery powder
- 1 green cardamom or a pinch of cardamom powder
- 4 tbsp ghee
Instructions
- Cut winter melon or ash gourd into medium-sized pieces and remove their skin. Rinse and thinly grate them, then squeeze out as much water as possible from the pulp and keep it aside.
- Into a thick-bottomed pan, add the grated pulp and stir-fry on low-medium heat until all the water content has evaporated and the pulp is soft and 80% cooked. (This can take up to 5 minutes.)
- Add 2 tbsp of ghee into the pan, stir to mix it well, and continue sautéing until the pulp starts to melt and come together.
- Add cardamom powder(or break-opened cardamom pod) plus jaggery and stir to combine together. Continue to cook for another 2 minutes on low heat.
- Meanwhile, heat 2 tbsp of ghee in a small pan on low heat. Add cashews and raisins, fry them for 20 seconds, one after the other, until cashews are light brown and raisins are plump. Turn off heat and pour this over halwa and give it a good mix.
- Serve halwa warm. Enjoy!
Notes
- Pro tip: Grate winter melon as thinly as possible to expedite cooking.
- Used in this recipe is Udupi jaggery powder , you can use the same or whichever is easily available to you.
- Note that there is no food color used here. If you need some, add a few strands of saffron.