Veg - Round Lauki (app. 450g)

Round Lauki (app. 450g)

Brand- GG

About the Product- This nutritious vegetable has a high water content. It is also known as calabash, long melon, lauki, ghiya, dudhi, laau (in Hindi).

Tip: Taste a small piece of the raw Bottle Gourd before cooking it. If it is unusually bitter, it should not be used.

Recipe- Lauki Curry

Heat oil in a 2 litre pressure cooker. Add 1 teaspoon cumin seeds. Let them splutter and crackle. Then add ½ cup chopped onions. Mix and begin to sauté onions on a medium-low flame. Sauté till onions turn translucent. Now add 1 teaspoon finely chopped ginger and 1 to 2 green chillies (chopped). Sauté for some seconds till the raw aroma of ginger goes away. Then add 1 to 1.25 cups tightly packed tomatoes. Mix and begin to sauté the tomatoes on a medium-low flame. Sauté the tomatoes till they become mushy and pulpy. The oil also starts to leave the masala. In the meantime when the tomatoes are getting cooked, rinse, peel and chop the lauki. When the tomatoes have become pulpy and you see oil releasing from the sides of the masala, then add ½ teaspoon turmeric powder, ½ teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder and 1 teaspoon coriander powder (optional). Also add 1 pinch of asafoetida (optional). Sauté for a minute. Add 3 cups chopped lauki (bottle gourd or ghiya or dudhi). Sauté for a minute. add salt as per taste.  Pour 1 cup water. Mix very well. Pressure cook lauki sabzi for 3 to 4 whistles or 7 to 8 minutes on medium flame till the lauki is cooked well and becomes mushy. When the pressure settles down on its own, open the lid of the cooker. If you find the lauki sabzi to be more liquid then dry it a little by simmering in the cooker without the lid till you get the desired consistency in the sabzi. Finally add ½ teaspoon Punjabi garam masala powder or garam masala powder. You can also add 2 to 3 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves at this step. Mix well. Serve lauki ki sabzi hot with some phulkas or chapatis.

Storage- To retain freshness and flavor, store it in a refrigerator.