Parwal Ki Mithai

This used to be my favorite Indian sweet. It still is but I haven't had it in years. Looking at the parwals [ pointed gourd ]in the market, I was immediately taken  back to my childhood, when we used to wait for summers to arrive so that we could get this mithai /sweet. Our small little town had only one good quality sweet shop "Ambar" then, and only that shop used to make this mithai. So, many a times we would land up at Ambar only to find out that parwal ki mithahi was already over. It was such a popular item in our town.
After having moved out to Delhi for my further studies, I still craved for this.Though,Delhi has a great sweets culture, this mithai was not available there. It was one such craving that I made this mithai for the first time. It tasted good, but it didn't acquire the same colour as "Ambar shop". It was pale green. I don't think I even had a recipe, I made it the way I thought it could be made. This time around, I wanted the colour to be right too. So, I followed Chef Sanjeev Kapoor's recipe, the image of which was closest to the Ambar Shop's mithai. He has used a pinch of baking soda to get the colour, which really worked. The only thing I found a bit of problem was to check if the parwals were done. No timing is mentioned in the recipe, so when I took out after 10 minutes, it was already sligthly overdone. So,I guess next time I make,I need to taste them at regular intervals to see that it is exactly done. It should be anywhere near 5-8 mins..


So here is the recipe of Parwal ki mithai which comes from Benaras, but is very popular in Bihar.


Ingredients
[Recipe :Adapted from Sanjeev Kapoor ]
250 grams Parwals [Pointed Gourd] , Fresh and big
A pinch of Baking Soda
1 cup: Mawa (khoya)  : How to make Khoya
1 1/2 cups Sugar
1/4 tsp Green cardamom powder
10 Almonds, chopped
10 Pistachios, chopped
1 cup Water

Preparation

1. Wash and peel the parwal's outer layer so that you can see the white-greenish layer.  Don't worry, this white will turn green when you boil it in steps ahead. Make a slit lengthwise ,so it is open from one side and attached from all other sides. Remove all the seeds from inside.keep aside.
2. For the stuffing, In a pan roast the khoya on medium heat till it becomes soft. Add half cup sugar and continue to roast till it is dryish.[ You can reduce the quantity of sugar here according to your taste].Add green cardamom powder and mix. Take it off the heat and add almonds and pistachios and mix. Transfer the mixture onto a plate and cool
3. In another pan boil 1 cup sugar with one cup water to make a thin sugar syrup of 1 thread  consistency.If you are familiar with another method of making syrup of 1 thread consistency follow that, as at many sites I found 1: 1/2 ratio of sugar and water. I followed  a middle path.
4.  In another pan, heat water, add a pinch of baking  soda. Add parwals and boil for two to three minutes. 
5. Drain and put them in the sugar syrup and cook till they soften. It will take around 8-10 minutes. Drain and cool.
6. Stuff them with the khoya mixture. Sprinkle some slivered almonds and pistachio on top.
7. Refrigerate for few hours and serve chilled. Can be stored for a couple of days in refrigerator.

Sending it to Aipi and Priya's Bookmark Event .

Sending this to Event celebrate sweets-stuffed sweets.