A simple quick homey recipe; perfect when the feet are tired and the heart craves for a light and fresh home cooked meal.
How was your weekend? Time flew for us amidst activities and house cleaning. The children went ice skating with the dad, while I walked around the mall by myself, visiting my favorite stores.. Pottery Barn and William Sonoma among the chosen few. I am not the one who “loves” to shop, but these stores are sources of inspirations for me as I look and register and at some point collect my thoughts, put them together and make them real.
Lauki or Dudhi/Doodhi (as it is called in Hindi) is a type of Indian gourd which is beautifully white inside the outer green peel with a hint of sweetish taste and is one of the most popular vegetables in an Indian home. It is usually known as the bottle gourd as the bottle shaped hardened ripened fruit are used to make bottles, vessels, instruments or pipes.
There is a lot one can do with this versatile vegetable. Not having any strong flavors or much taste to itself, the soft mild flesh inside the lovely green absorbs and adjusts to whatever recipe it is used in. There are in dry stir fries, curries, with sea food or lentils, in desserts, soups and a lot more creative recipes.
There is a big difference in the way the “world” sees and judges Indian food and what actually happens in the kitchen of an Indian home. It is the difference in what the general Indian restaurants sell as opposed to what we cook at home. The rich creamy spicy curries are not the every day meal style for us. Neither is Butter Chicken, Tikkas or Naan. What we treasure and find comfort in is a light flavorful and healthy meal loaded with myriad of vegetables most of which never make it to a restaurant menu card. And the Lauki/Dudhi or the bottle gourd is definitely one of them.
The recipe today is adapted from a close friend’s mom, who also happens to be a wonderful cook. She cooks delightful food, and feeds us with infectious enthusiasm, and her recipes are all light healthy and quick yet packed with flavor and taste. I have adapted this a tiny bit and use the tomato which is not there in the original recipe. Mine also is tuned to be a little bit more soupy, for I love to spoon out this slightly sweet and tangy sauce that the Lauki is simmered in, on some hot rice or simply dunk the bread as it softens in there soaking up the flavor.
The hing/asafoetida is an intriguing spice that imparts a very special flavor to this dish. Since the curry uses no onion, garlic or ginger the hing as it tempers in the ghee, is a vital flavoring agent as also are the fresh chili peppers. Come along with me, have a seat and enjoy a bowlful of the comforting Lauki curry.
Khatti Meethi Lauki – Sweet and Sour Bottle Gourd
Ingredients: (serves 2-4 as side)
- 1 small bottle gourd/lauki/dudhi
- 1 tablespoon ghee or oil
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds/jeera
- a very generous pinch of hing/asafoetida
- 2 fresh green chili pepper (sliced if you like the heat, and if you don’t leave them whole)
- 1 small fresh tomato, pureed (or 3/4 tablespoons tomato paste + 1/4 cup water OR 1/4 cup canned tomato puree)
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
- salt to taste
- 2 teaspoon sugar (or to taste)
- 3/4 cup water
- a good squeeze of lime or lemon juice
- coriander/cilantro leaves to garnish (optional)
Preparation:Peel the gourd and chop it into 3/4 inch cubes; wash well and drain.
Heat ghee in a deep pot. Add the hing/asafoetida and then after a few seconds add the cumin seeds. When the seeds sizzle add the green chili peppers, chopped or whole. When the peppers sizzle and has a few brown spots, (less than a minute), add the tomato (fresh puree/canned puree/or the paste combined with water) to the pot. Add salt, turmeric and sugar and cook for 2 -4 minutes, until the tomato mushes and thickens a bit.
Add the chopped lauki/gourd, toss for the tomato mix to coat the pieces, cook at medium heat for 2 minutes uncovered. Add the water, cover and cook until the gourd is tender- it will look translucent.The curry will be lightly soupy. If you want less liquid, simmer it a little bit longer until you get the desired consistency.
Serve hot as a side with a drizzle of lemon/lime juice and garnished with fresh chopped cilantro.
Its the best over hot rice or with warm bread to dunk it in the beautifully flavored curry.
Submitted to WHB #303, hosted at the Healthy Green Kitchen.
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Sauteed Cabbage with Sweet Onions and Almonds
Vegetable and Lentils with Ground Spices
A beautiful dish! Bottle gurd is very intriguing.
Cheers,
Rosa
Oh, you make the lauki curry look so nice! This is almost exactly the way I have grown up eating lauki, except for one minor difference – my mom uses panch phoran and adds some finely diced onions and tomatoes. People sometimes look at me as if I am crazy when I say lauki is delicious, but made this way, it really is.
Totally my kind of subji! I make pumpkin, radish and other veggie the similar way..and love the simplicity of this curry.
Very nice of you to bring this humble vegetable to lime light..It is one of my favorites and I gorged on it when I was a kid. We make a pretty similar thing except that we dont put sugar in it and it is very soupy. Quick & easy too!
Lovely post- you can make simplicity shine.
🙂
Sweet and sour lauki is my moms favorite.! and you do make the simple vegetable look absolutely beautiful 🙂
Looks like a simple homey Subji—very tempting with rotis!! Thanks
Let me tell u something funny. The only dish I like with lauki is with tiny shimp that my mom makes so yummy and the only dish Arvind likes with Lauki is kofta. At times I get so tired of eating these two dishes that I land up giving a huge gap before buying Lauki.
Loving the light flavor of this dish and I am gonna try this next time.
so delicious Soma! We use this veggies in Vietnamese cooking too, but often in clear soup!
Soma, this is soo much like Gujarati doodhi recipe 🙂 The only difference here is we use jaggery in place of sugar. That’s it. I too love Lauki curry anytime. It is just so comfy!
Lauki is one of my favorite vegetable. I should definitely try this recipe. And as always gorgeous pics that makes me drool
BTW forgot to mention that I love ur new banner 🙂
Lovely Lauki sabzi and beautiful pics!! We’re pretty fond of this veggie over at our place, especially coz its so easy to cut and quick to dish out.
Sounds lovely and must have been a very conforting bowl of the hot gravy. I have this big lauki that i had bought the other day and I am going ot have to try this one out. Shall let you know soon. Its always nice to try recipes that are homely and passed from aunts and family!
Shobha
Mahalaya aar pujor anek shubhechha Soma.
ei recipe ta darun, kakhano ebhabe try korini, tabe sanjeev kapoor er show dekhe age khub capsicum die banatam. awesome clicks as always.
I’ve been trying to see if I can find this near me since I first heard of it, I’m so interested in trying it.
I agree about what we eat everyday is not being Chicken tikka and naan 🙂 I am always looking for new recipes for lau and this looks wonderful!
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[…] did not know the term “bottle gourd,” but she did have something that looked like the one pictured here, which she called an “Indian squash,” so I decided to try […]
Amazing. I tried tamarid instead of tomato purry. Its delicious. Thanks
nice photos..