Dudhi halwyachya shingdya are a unique Diwali treat.
Bottle gourd halwa stuffed into a laminated pastry casing (like flaky / puff pastry) and baked to crisp golden perfection.
Don’t let the baked exterior deceive you. These calorie bombs are made of refined flour with loads of ghee and sugar.
They’re definitely worth the trouble as an annual indulgence though!
Dudhi – ½ kg (grated)
Milk – ½ cup
Khoya – 150 gms
Sugar – 150 gms
Ghee – 1 tbsp
Nutmeg, cardamom (a pinch each)
In a nonstick pan, add grated dudhi, milk and cook covered till soft.
Dry off all residual liquid and add sugar
Dry completely and add a tbsp of ghee
Once cooled, add khoya, cardamom and nutmeg powders. Add chopped nuts of your choice (optional)
Cream the ghee till light and fluffy and keep adding cornstarch a little at a time till it becomes a bit stiff.
For the dough
Maida – 3 waati
Barik Rawa – 6 tbsp
Ghee (melted) – 4 tbsp
Salt – 1 pinch
Baking Powder – ½ tsp
Milk – as required for kneading
Knead well to a stiff dough using milk. Make sure you add a little at a time to achieve a puri like dough – make sure the dough is really stiff. Leave this overnight and make your shingdya the next morning.
Make even sized dough balls (the size you would for a large paratha) in multiples of 3 (3 waatis of maida should yield 6 dough balls)
Roll out each dough ball to a thickish chapati.
Apply a thin layer of the saatha on top of each roti ( like you would apply chutney on a sandwich) and stick the 3 chapatis together.
Now pat these together to remove any air bubbles and fold them into a tight roll (like a Kathi roll).
Stretch this slightly and refrigerate for ½ hour.
Cut the roll into small pieces like pinwheels and refrigerate again for 10 minutes
Roll these out using a little maida (not too thin as the pastry may tear)
Put in a tsp of filling (Parbhi shingdya traditionally have dudhi halwa as filling – but standard coconut filling also works).
Shape into karanjis and pinch-fold to seal (what you would refer to as murad and we parbhus call birwan).
Brush a little milk on top and bake at 200/220 ℃ for around 20 mins.
The recipe is not very simple and needs a lot of patience.
But trust me the end result is totally worth the effort and much more!