"Naivedyam: Gardudde- Badam Halwa/ Bottle Gourd- Almond Halva" ... I often realize that life is not about always being perfect, but about being wise enough to turn tables when the need arises ... I ventured out to prepare burfi; but halfway through the process realized I had taken some wrong measures … being an optimist, I see opportunity in every difficulty, so took a U turn and prepared halwa to avoid disaster … this accidental halwa tuned out truly scrumptious … Yummilicious ....
** Sharing my delicious Naivedyam, I prepared accidentally for the first time on just a trial basis that turned out fantastic. I had prepared this a few weeks back, but due to a bad back I could not do any posting in my blog as I was advised on bed rest for some time. Though work has to go on, I took in between rests and continued my work.
** Preparing this halwa exhausted me completely as I was not prepared for the long duration of time it consumed. I was really tired by the end as standing was becoming difficult, this is so coz. I was all in mood today to try out a bottle gourd burfi I had come across in net which had appealed to me a lot, but sadly was disappointed with results.
** I wonder why some recipes never turn out as mentioned, I should have double checked and used my brains and realized it would go wrong. But trust is something I learn lessons on and still go naïve upon, halfway through I realized things were going wrong, I was sure I would end up with a brittle mass of dish instead of burfi.
** Well, Amma always taught me not to give up, so does my hubby, I was cribbing so loudly that something within me snapped and made me take a decision to stop going further as I had already wasted over an hour on it. The most difficult part was I could not even taste it as I was preparing it as an offering of Naivedyam to God.
** Being a optimist, I calmed up and decided to stop and turn burfi into halwa, made some adjustment and got the right serving consistency. And Bingo!!! The halwas turned out perfectly delicious; off course, I tasted it later after my pooja. I guess its completely God’s grace as I was hesitant to make the offering, what if it was not good???
** Well, the final result on halwa was worth it, simply delicious and I am really waiting eagerly to try out the same again making some more variations to make it quicker and off course eat it to heart’s content. I will be sharing the recipe directly as I am falling short on time as there is lot of pending work to be done. Stay Blessed~ Spread Happiness.
** Here is my simple recipe for “Gardudde- Badam Halwa/ Bottle Gourd- Almond Halva" … that I prepared for Naivedyam …
** Ingredients :
Bottle Gourd/ Duddi/ Gardudde : 5-6 cups grated
Almonds/ Badam : 1 cup
Full Fat Cow’s Milk/ Doodh : ½ litre + ½ cup
Sugar/ Sakkara/ Shakkar : 2.5 cups (approx)
Cardamom/ ellaichi/ Yellu Powder : ½ tsp
Ghee/ Toop : 8-10 tblsp
** Soak Almonds/ Badam in warm water for 30 minutes or till you can remove the outer skin. When you find that you can loosen the skin out drain of water completely and peel off the same and keep it ready.
** Note : You can also add the almonds in a MW safe glassware dish filled with water and run in the microwave for 2 minutes and allow to rest for 5 minutes. You can then peel off the skin easily immediately, it saves on time.
** Add prepared almonds into a mixer grinder along with ½ a cup of full fat milk that has been boiled and cooled. Remove and keep this aside ready.
** Wash and rub dry the bottle gourd/ gardudde and slice off both side edges. Now cut them into 6 pieces lengthwise and grate on a fine grater taking care to see that you do not grate the skin part, discard the skin and collect the gratings.
** In a thick bottomed kadai heat 2-3 tblsp of ghee/ toop and add in the grated tender bottle gourd (without skin)/ duddi/ gardudde and fry for a few minutes till softened, say for approximated for about 5-8 minutes.
** Now add in ground almonds, half liter of full fat boiled and cooled milk and cook on medium flame until it starts thickening, ahhaaa the tedious work now begins. Lower the heat and cook for another few minutes stirring often.
** Add in a tblsp of ghee/ toop, mix well and keep stirring. When slightly thickened add sugar/ shakkar and continue to cook on medium heat. The mixture will thin out once again, but keep stirring until it leaves sides, this will take some time.
** Note : The required amount of sugar varies depending upon individual taste, you may adjust accordingly by increasing or decreasing.
** I warned you it takes some time, so be patient and please do not raise the heat to finish it quick. Once again add another 2 tblsp of ghee, mix well and continue cooking till it leaves the sides and comes to a balling consistency.
** Don’t worry if your hand aches, ask help if need be for stirring, the final result is really worth it. When thickened to a rounding mass add cardamom/ ellaichi/ yellu powder, mix well, remove and put it on a greased plate to cool well.
** “Gardudde- Badam Halwa/ Bottle Gourd- Almond Halva" is done and ready to be offered as Naivedyam to God on any festive occasion and thereby distributed among family and friends. I did warn you that this is a very delicious process of preparing halwa; however I assure you that when you see the beaming faces of your loved one’s while tasting it, all your tiredness will disappear, Its truly achievement.
** Once again I repeat, this halwa takes time to be done, so don’t hurry up the process or raise the heat, lest it burns. I suggest you prepare it when you have plenty of time in hand. It took me more than an hour to do the same, but the result is worth it. I will surely try to prepare this one again with a shorter method and will also try out the burfi which I wanted to try out so much, this time with assured recipe from reliable source. Do prepare this halwa; there are plenty of hardships in life that we need to face without cribbing for best result, so go ahead, try it a and also give me a feedback if possible.
** Sharing a common link below to all “Halwa” recipes shared in the Blog, just browse through and try them out in leisure ….
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Thanks.