Gil-e-Firdaus

A uniquely Hyderabadi milk dessert — tender bottle gourd (lauki) shreds cooked down in full-fat milk with sugar, khoya, and cardamom until the gourd dissolves into the thickened milk, then garnished with chopped pistachios and almonds. The name means 'clay of paradise'; its delicate, milky sweetness and subtle gourd flavour are unlike any other Indian kheer or halwa.