Bottle-Gourd Custard

The idea of using bottle-gourd in a sweet dish is a novel one indeed. Our neighbour used to make payasam or rabdi using this vegetable. Taking this one step forward is the custard. Corn flour is the agent used to thicken and set custards normally in a vegetarian recipe. Looking for alternatives led to the use of besan (kadala mavu - Tamil) or chick-pea flour. A recipe I found at ‘A Life (Time) of Cooking’ was tweaked a little to make it rich. Another recipe that I tried for a challenge. This one is by SHRUTHI of “When I Play Chef....”.

Bottle-Gourd Custard

Ingredients:

Bottle-Gourd ½ cup, grated

Milk 3 cups

Khoya ¼ cup

Sugar ¼ cup

Ghee 2 Tbsp

Cashew nuts 2 Tbsp

Raisins 1 Tbsp

Besan 2 Tbsp, rounded

Saffron 6 strands

Cardamom 3, powdered

Method:

Cook grated gourd in just enough milk until soft.

Reduce the remaining milk until thick.

Heat ghee over a gentle flame and fry raisins and cashew nuts until golden. Keep aside to garnish.

In the same ghee, cook the flour until raw smell disappears.

Add thickened milk and cooked gourd. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Add grated khoya, sugar, cardamom powder, saffron, fried nuts and raisins. Simmer further for 2 minutes.

Cool and set in a dish. Chill in refrigerator and serve cold.

24/07/2009 My first award from Shruthi

Thanks Shruthi. I"ll cherish this.