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!

For Dudhi Halwa

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)

For the saatha

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!