Saturday, July 20, 2013

Mix Vegetable Vegan Halwa with Bottle gourd, Carrots and Chioggia Beets. {Indian Vegan Dessert with vegetables.}

Indian sweet "Halwa"  can be prepared with different flours, Dals, Nuts, Fruits and vegetables. Today I am sharing  recipe of Halwa made with three vegetables. I had  one organic Chioggia beet, few locally grown tender carrots in the refrigerator, quantity was not sufficient to make three servings of Halwa so  I added one  Lauki / Dudhi  and made  this Three vegetable Halwa. I skipped adding milk , used  extra virgin coconut oil so it turned  vegan halwa. For rich taste and additional nutrition I added coarse ground  almond meal and Hemp hearts. After cooking bright natural color of vegetable was  lost but Halwa tasted  absolutely delicious.



 Halwa Ingredients : (3 servings of Halwa)
  • 1 Dudhi / Bottlegourd / Lauki - grated, yield 2.5 cup tightly packed.
  • 1 Chioggia Beetroot - grated -(yield 1 cup tightly packed) regular beets can be used.
  • 8-10 young  carrots - grated - (yield 1 cup tightly packed) use any type of carrots.
  • 5-6 Tb.spoon - extra virgin coconut oil (I used Carrington Farms from costco.)
  • 5 Tb.spoon - Hemp hearts (raw shelled hemp seeds.)
  • 1/4 Cup- coarse ground almond powder
  • 4-5 Cardamom - finely ground seeds
  • 3 Tb.spoon - Golden raisins
  • 4 Tb.spoon - slivered almonds
  • 3/4 cup sugar - extra 3-4 Tb.spoon for  more sweetness.

Lauki , Gajar and Chioggia Beet.



Grated Beetroot, Carrots and Dudhi.

Method of making Mix vegetable Halwa.
  1. Cut both the ends of Bottle gourd, peel the skin. Keep the seeds if they are extra tender. If seeds are grown then remove inner seed portion. Grate by using grater as shown in the image or use food processor. Keep it aside. (Bitter tasting bottle gourd  should not be consumed due to its  toxic properties.)
  2. I used organic locally grown carrots so didn't peel the skin but thoroughly washed it under running water by rubbing the skin to get rid of soil. Grate it by using grater or use food processor. Peel the skin if you are using regular carrots.
  3. For Chioggia beets I  partially peeled the skin from rough root grown portion. Don't peel off clean dark pink skin. Grate and keep aside.
  4. Gently squeeze juice from grated veggies. Do not squeeze out all juice, one or two times gentle hand squeeze is enough. I got around half cup juice, drink it up or use it  in cooking.
  5. In a small saute pan heat 1 tbsp coconut oil, add golden raisins in two batches, stir fry by stirring continuously until raisins swell to round shape and turn light brown. Keep heat low to avoid burning. Drain over paper towel. Next add little more coconut oil in the same pan, fry slivered almonds until light brown. Drain on paper towel.
  6. Heat 3 tbsp extra virgin coconut oil in a heavy gauge pot. I took 4 quart hard anodized pot. Add all grated vegetables, cook over medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring often. Add powdered cardamom seeds when you are half way through cooking process. If mixture gets too dry spray some water to retain moisture.
  7. Now add 1/4 cup coarse ground almond powder, mix well, cook for five minutes, stirring often.
  8. Next add 3/4 cup sugar, once sugar melts, veggie mixture will turn loose in texture, continue to cook until mixture forms thick pulp like texture. Taste sweetness, if required add 3-4 tbs more sugar.
  9. Now add 5 tbsp hemp hearts (optional) and 2 tbsp coconut oil, mix well, continue to cook for 6-7 minutes or until mixture achieves your desired halwa texture. Add fried raisins and slivered almonds, mix well. (save few for final garnish) Let it cool down completely before serving. You can serve in a bowl or shape in your choice of moulds.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

How to tell what is a safe bottle gourd to eat? At what stage it should be harvested? I assume you grew your own because it never looks that good in stores.

sm said...

Mixed Halwa sweet and tasty dish

Usha said...

sm, Thanks...this mix veg halwa tasted too good to repeat the recipe often.

Usha said...

anonymous, I guess you are Radha. Every time I start cutting bottle gourd I taste little piece, if it tastes bitter then I don't cook.

This I got from Indian grocery store, we get locally grown bottle gourds in summer, season has already started, we have great choice to choose from tender to grown almost 3ft long. You can harvest at any stage, pick few very tender and leave few to grow few more days.

I don't grow bottle gourd, it is not possible to have vegetable patch in townhome living. Few years back I tried growing in pot but only one flower gave tiny bottle gourd. Currently I have so many winter melon plants grown in pot..mostly I will give away to my friends who have vegetable patch...few I will leave in the pot.

Anonymous said...

Yes im radha but no url to fill into the form.
How can you grow winter melon in a pot its too big!

have you heard of poona kheera cucumber or armenian cucumber and how to tell right stage to harvest in? My farmers market has them, they are indian cucumbers.

Joanna said...

Bon Appetit !

shine said...

bitterness f cucumber and dudhi etc due to lack of water,Immerse i salt watfor some time and drain water ,it will be OK

Radha said...

Can you tell the name of the grocery store or farmer I can get your bottle gourd from as well as other Indian vegetables that could be mailed to me? You mentioned you get tender drumstick leaves. The vegetables sold near me are not good, and I cant grow outside during winter.

Shine , I think other reasons for bitterness are due to bad seed or plant stress, when plant roots hits a rock while growing it causes some stress to plant and the whole plant turns bitter. Lack of water I got to look into.

Radha said...

Are you growing those hybrid mini winter melons or the real deal big ones in pots?

Usha said...

Radha, I have heard about poona kheera cucumbers but not yet tasted them here in Cary,NC.

I get all my vegetables from Triangle Indian Market,Chatham st.I am not sure about mailing facility but next time I visit I will ask owner Mr.Reddy.

I mentioned about these wintermelon plants in August, they are not hybrid but grown from seeds saved after cooking regular large size winter melon. It was so much fun to watch them grow in pot. Only one single plant got around 20 flowers and out of that one single flower pollinated..wintermelon is growing, now it is little larger than big size coconut. Currently I have covered it with paper and plastic bag to save it from night low temperatures. I am going to make special post to share beautiful images of bright yellow flowers and growing winter melon.