Lauki Ki dahi Wali Sabzi (Bottle Gourd savory)

Lauki Ki Dahi wali Sabzi

Lauki (Bottle gourd/calabash/Dudhi) is a vegetable having large amount of water and dietary fibers. It is easy to digest and has a slight sweet taste. Thought many people prefer peeling the Lauki before making the vegetable, it is advisable that choose tender bottle gourd for making vegetable and keep the peel on. The peel has micro-nutrients and dietary fibers. Even if you get the one with hard peel and do not wish to have grainy touch to your vegetable, peel it but do not throw the peel. The peel can be cut to fine strips and a good savory can be made out of it or the peels can be roasted in oven and made to good crisp side dish. Apart from sabji (savory) it can be used to make Koftas-Curry also. I prefer Lauki koftas make using Moong-dal flour, the Koftas come out crispier.

Lauki is not only used to make savory but good dessert like Kheer, Halwa and delicious healthy shake “Deli Milk Shake” http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.in/2015/02/deli-milk-shake.html

The savory of Lauki can be made with or without adding curd/tomatoes. If sourness is not introduced to the sabji then it comes out a little on the sweeter side due to the sweetness of Lauki. Whatever way it is made Lauki sabji is very tasty and healthy. My daughter-in-law loves the Lauki I make using curd. She loves eating it with not only roti but with chawal (steamed rice) also.

Bottle gourd has tremendous health benifits. It is diuretic, cooling thus soothing to digestive system. Due to plenty of water content in it , it moisturises the skin internally and is reduces the chances of acnes.The fibers in peel help in absorption of water in elementary canal thus reduces the chances of constipation. 

Preparation Time: 5-10 minutes

Cooking Time: 15 minutes (max.)

Serving: 4 Medium Servings

Nutritional Facts: Omiting Potato amount of Carb and calories can be reduced along with few micro-nutrients)

85 Cal

20.56mg Carb

9 gm. Protein

7 gm. Sugars

1.50 mg. Dietary fiber

25 mg. Calcium

o.25 mg. iron

6ug folates

10 mg Vitamin C

Vitamin K

45.5 mg Potassium

90.6 mg Sodium

0.25 mg Vitamin B6

12 mg. Magnesium

0.7 mg. Zinc

Ingredients Required for Making Lauki-Ki-Dahi Wali Sabji:

• 500 gm. Tender Lauki (Bottle Gourd)

Bottle gourd

• 1 Medium size Potato (Optional) (10 gm. approx.)
• 1 Green Chili
• 2-3 Sprigs of fresh Coriander leafs
• 1 cm. Piece of Ginger
• 1/2 Teaspoon of Ghee (Clarified Butter) Melted not solid
• 1/2teaspoon Jeera (Cumin seeds)
• 1/4Teaspoon Hing (Asafetida powder)
• 1/4teaspoon Turmeric Powder
• Salt to taste
• 200 gm. Thick slightly sour Curd (I use Skimmed milk curd) at room temp. 
• 1-2 Sprigs of Fresh coriander leafs for garnish

Directions For Making Lauki-KI-Sabji:

• Wash Coriander leafs, chili and ginger. Chop them finely.
• Wash Lauki and remove any blemishes fron Lauki surface usinf knife.
• Chop Lauki to small pieces.

Chopped vegetable 

• In a pressure cooker take 1/2teaspoon of ghee and heat till very hot.
• Add cumin seeds and let them splutter.
• Once the seeds had spluttered add
• Hing
• Ginger pieces
• Green chili pieces
• Chopped coriander leafs
• Cook for 1 minute with constant stirring. Aroma of spices will start emanating.

Spices and coriander leafs cooking 

• Add potato pieces and cook for 2 minutes on low flame with stirring two or three times.

Potatoes added and cooked for 2 minutes

• Add Lauki pieces and stir. Cook for 2 minutes with stirring 3-4 times, so that all spices mix with vegetable.

Lauki (Bottle gourd) added and cooked for 2 minutes

• Add
• Turmeric
• Salt
• Mix and close the cooker with the lid. Place the weight of cooker on the lid and cook on low flame for 5 minutes (Till it whistles once).

Turmeric and salt added

Ready for cooking on low heat in pressure

• Switch off the heat and allow the vegetable to cool. Open lid, Lauki and potatoes will have cooked.
• Mash the vegetable(mostly potatoes) slightly.

Cooked vegetable

After mashing cooked vegetable

• Whisk  curd (which should be at room temperature) to smooth consistency.
• Keep the cooker on high heat and add curd.
• Mix curd and vegetable, and cook with constant stirring for minutes or so. Once the vegetable starts bubbling, switch off the heat.

Curd added and given a boil

• Do not get startled by slight splitting of curd. This is a natural phenomenon. But if cooked too much after adding curd the curdling will be excessive and the appearance as well as the taste will not be too good.

Lauki ki sabzi ready to be garnished

• Remove the sabji in a serving bowl and garnish with coriander leafs (Chopped or shredded).
• Serve with Roti/Parantha or Rice as my daughter-in-law likes.

Lauki ki Dahi Wali sabzi

Tips:

• Curd should be at room temperature else it will split. 
• Chop Lauki after you have done rest of the chopping because Lauki decolorizes if kept for long.
• Do not chop Lauki first and keep it immersed in water, as the nutrients will leach out from Lauki into water.
• If your Lauki has hard peel just scrape the upper surface, do not remove all the peel, in doing so you are loosing on important nutrients.
• Remove the seeds only if they are hard, in any case good Lauki for savory is the one with soft interior.
• Taste the chili before adding as some are too hot, and too hot chili will spoil the sweetness Lauki is associated with.
• Ginger, chili and coriander leafs (Dhaniya patta) are added to the vegetable for flavor, do not over do them.
• No water should be added to the Lauki in any stage as it is rich in juices and once it is in cooker the salt helps the juices to be released, Lauki and potatoes will cook in this juice itself.
• Cooking should be done on low heat. Never on high or medium, else vegetable will get burnt.
• Adding water will spoil the taste of Lauki sabji.
• Potato is added to bring some natural starch along with nutrients to the vegetable, which binds the Lauki pieces together.
• Never add curd or tomato before the vegetable is cooked.

Suggested Variation:

• Ghee can be replaced with any cooking oil, though this vegetable tastes best when made in ghee.
• Ghee or oil should be just enough to make the cumin seeds splutter, too much of ghee/oil will spoil the tatse and healthy benefit of Lauki.
• Potato can be omitted, but the final outcome will be slightly different. The starch of potato binds the vegetable and curd together. Omitting potato will reduce calories and carb in vegetable.
• Curd can be replaced with 50 ml. paste of tomato puree. If adding tomato puree, then cook the vegetable for 3-4 minutes after adding tomato puree so that the flavor of tomato mix nicely with Lauki.
• 2 teaspoon ofroasted  flour (Wheat/Rice/Gram) can be added to curd before adding to the cooked vegetable mixture. This avoids curdling of curd. I prefer not to add it thus not shown in my recipe.