“Happy Karwachauth” to all those celebrating!❇️ I accidentally tumbled into this fasting festival… All thanks to our lovey dovey Bollywood movies!!!😆
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Of all days, moon chooses to play hide-n-seek on karwachauth!😅 Anyways, made these “Lauki Barfis” (bottlegourd squares) to break my fast on a sweet note after moon spotting tonight. Now I’m on the look out for ways to spend time away from kitchen or food for that matter.🤣.This is what my puja thali looked like for Karvachauth puja.Hope all those who fasted spotted the moon easily and celebrated the festival with their loved ones. As for me, I went out to see the moon so late that it was up there bright and beautiful! 🌝 Had a lovely celebration with my family and my Brazilian duo were so curious about what was happening… They thought it was diwali already!😆
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I had mentioned making lauki barfis yesterday. The challenge in making these barfis was finding mawa in my neighbourhood. After a few futile attempts at finding mawa, I decided to make the barfis without mawa.
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The recipe for instant “Lauki Barfi” without mawa is here. Do check it out. Bookmark the post so you can make it if you are looking to make something quickly for Diwali!✨—————————————————–

Instant Lauki Barfi Recipe

Makes 18 squares of 1-1/2″,1/2″ thick approx.1 cup = 240 ml

Ingredients:

• Bottlegourd/lauki – 600-800 gm
• Full fat milk – 1/2 cup
• Clarified butter/ ghee – 2 tbsp
• Condensed milk – 1 tin/ 400 gm
• Green cardamom – 5 to 6
• Almonds – 10 to 12, sliced

Instructions:

1. Rinse the bottle gourd well and wipe dry.2. Cut off both the ends and peel the bottlegourd.3. Cut the bottlegourd into 3 pieces.4. Cut the pieces into half.5. With the help of a knife, remove the pith and seeds. This can be used in making curry.6. Grate these using the medium toothed side of the grater.7. The medium tooth gets the best texture for the barfis.8. Place a soup strainer over a large bowl. Transfer the grated bottlegourd into the strainer and with the help of a spoon squeeze out all the water from the bottlegourd. You may even squeeze with hand to remove the water.9. Keep the bittlegourd juice aside. This juice has many benefits and is well known to aid weight loss regime.10. Once squeezed, grated bottlegourd will look like this. Transfer this into a thick bottomed kadai.11. Add milk to the grated bottle gourd.12. Mix well.13. Cover and cook for 3-4 minutes on medium heat.14. Take the cover off and stir well. Again cook covered for 3-4 minutes on medium flame. Add ghee and mix well.15. Add condensed milk.16. Add cardamom powder and chopped almonds.17. Mix well.18. Cook on high flame for about 15 minutes while stirring continuously until the mix starts leaving the sides of kadai.19. To check if the lauki barfi mix is ready – take a pinch of mix and try to roll into a ball. If it holds shape well then the Barfi mixture is ready to set.20. Turn off heat. Grease a tray or plate with ghee. Transfer the barfi mix to the greased plate. Ensure that it is already 1/2 inch or more in thickness.21. Garnish with sliced almonds or almond flakes. Press then gently so that they are securely lodged into the mix.22. Set the barfi in refrigerator for atleast 1-2 hours. Slice them into desired size and shape. Enjoy!If you happen to try my Instant Lauki Barfi Recipe; leave a comment, let me know how it turned out.
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Happy fasting!
Happy moon-spotting!
Love
M♥️