Kasi Halwa | Poosanikai Halwa | Ash Gourd Halwa
Delicious and addictive diwali special Kasi Halwa recipe with detailed step by step pictures. Easy Poosanikai Halwa recipe - Ash Gourd Halwa recipe!
MEASUREMENT
1 cup = 250ml, 1 tablespoon = 15ml, 1 teaspoon = 5ml
Ingredients
- 2 cups White Pumpkin/Ash Gourd Grated
- 1 cup Sugar
- ¼ teaspoon Cardamom Powder
- Few Saffron Strands optional
- 2 tablespoon Ghee/Clarified Butter
- 5-6 Fried Cashews
Instructions
- Wash and peel off the skin of white pumpkin with no traces of green. Cut into smaller chunks and remove the seeds inside. Grate it finely. Squeeze of the additional liquid tightly and set aside two cups of pumpkin. Don’t discard the water as (it has medicinal benefits) it can be used for other purposes – check notes.
- In a thick bottomed pan, heat 1 teaspoon of ghee and add grated pumpkin. Fry on medium heat for 3-4 mins until the raw smell is gone. Add ¼ cup of the preserved pumpkin water or regular water and cook covered on a medium flame for 5-6 mins until pumpkin is soft and tender.
- Slightly mash the cooked pumpkin. Add 1 cup of sugar and stir until it is dissolved. The mixture starts to turn watery. Add saffron strands. Keep stirring on low flame. Add 1 teaspoon of ghee at regular intervals and keep stirring.
- As the mixture begins to thicken, add cardamom powder and on low flame keep cooking until it all comes together. As you stir, there would be small white dots forming on the pumpkin – remove from heat at this stage. On cooling down it hardens a bit.
- Add fried cashews and serve warm! Store it in fridge for longer shelf life.
Notes
- White pumpkin leaves a lot of water, even while grating. This water can be used to make roti dough or can be consumed with a pinch of salt as pumpkin juice. Don’t discard this as it is good for health.
- Make sure the pumpkin is well cooked before adding sugar as it might not cook properly after adding sugar.
- Grate the pumpkin as fine as possible for fast cooking.
- Keep stirring the halwa after adding sugar and depending on the consistency, add ghee at regular intervals.
- Always cook it on low flame after adding sugar.
- Saffron is optional. Edible food color can also be used in its place.
- Stop cooling right after there are white spots over the pumpkin when you keep stirring. If you continue to cook, the halwa might become very hard once cooled down.
- For longer shelf life, store it in an air tight container in the refrigerator. While serving, add 1-2 teaspoon of water, mix well and microwave for 30-40 secs. Halwa comes back to its original consistency.
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