Peel off the thick skin of the Petha, remove its seed and spongy pulp. Cut the hard pulp of the Petha into large pieces and grate them.
Take a utensil filled with enough water to soak the grated Petha completely. Soak the grated Petha in this water and after washing it 2 times squeeze it.
Place a Kadhai(pan) on the gas and after putting Ghee allow it to heat. Put the water drained Petha in the Ghee and fry. Once the Petha cahnges colour add sugar and cook on a low flame. Stir the Petha and sugar from time to time.
Fry Mawa in a different Kadahai(pan) till it turns light pink.
When there is no water remaining in the Petha and sugar mix add Mawa and fry it fo 3-4 minutes while stirring regularly. Put the cut papayas(dried) in the Halwa(leave some cut papaya for garnish). Turn off the gas, add Elaichi to Petha Halwa and mix.
Petha Halwa is ready, take it out in a bowl and garnish with the already cut papayas.Serve hot and fresh Petha Halwa and feast on it. Store the remaining Petha Halwa in a container and put it in the fridge. Whenever you desire take it out from the fridge and enjoy eating upto 7 days.
While stirring Petha Halwa cook till it turns thick, apply Ghee on a tray and solidify it. Now it can be cut into pieces similar to those of Barfi and you can also call it Petha Barfi.
Petha - Petha is a fruit that's bit smaller than a pumpkin (in size).The raw fruit is used to prepare vegetable curries while the ripe fruit is used in preparing Petha Halwa or Petha Murabba. Petha Sweet has become widely famous and is called Petha itself. This fruit is shown in the given picture.
