Lauki Kheer: Sweet But Healthy Dessert

Lauki kheer is not a very common Indian dessert. When it comes to kheer recipes, we are more used to having the varieties that use rice. Now lauki kheer is prepared from grated bottle gourd (called lauki in Hindi) instead of the usual rice. Kheer recipes are very fattening because they are high calories. These Indian desserts contain both sugar/jaggery and rice or some other carbohydrates like sabudana.

Lauki kheer is a healthy dessert because it cuts out the carbohydrate content. Bottle gourd is not fattening like rice and has lots of vital nutrients. If you reduce the amount of sugar in this Indian dessert, it can easily be a kheer for diabetics.

Serves: 4
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

• Bottle gourd- 500 grams (grated)
• Milk- 1 lt
• Sugar- 1 cup
• Ghee- 2tbsp
• Pista- 10
• Cashew nuts- 10
• Cardamom seeds- 1/2tsp
• Kewra water- 1tsp

Procedure

1. Peel the bottle gourd or lauki and grate it.
2. Pressure cook the grated lauki for the duration of 2 whistles. Drain away the water.
3. Squeeze the boiled bottle gourd to remove the excess water.
4. Heat ghee in a deep bottomed pan. Add the dry fruits namely, pista and cashew nuts to the pan.
5. Saute for 2 minutes on a low flame and keep the fried nuts aside.
6. Add the boiled lauki to the same pan. Mix it up properly and cook on a low flame for around 3-4 minutes.
7. Now boil milk in a deep bottomed pan. Let the milk boil till it reduces to 3/4 of its original volume.
8. Then add the cooked bottle gourd to the pan and mix it up. Continue to simmer the kheer for another 5-7 minutes.
9. Now add sugar and stir the kheer for 3-4 minutes to dissolve it uniformly.
10. Add cardamom seeds and kewra water in the end. Garnish lauki kheer with fried pista and cashew.

Serve lauki kheer chilled after dinner. You can enjoy this healthy dessert with friends and family.