Lauki Chana Dal | Bottle Gourd with Lentils

Lauki Chana Dal is the perfect one-pot meal to give you the wholesomeness of bottle gourd and lentils.

As summer peaks it gets harder to spend time in the kitchen. But also, Mother Nature makes sure we stay hydrated by flooding us with the best summer bounty. Most veggies available through summer have high water content. This makes it easy to digest while having a cooling effect on our system. The gourd family is one such. Vegetables from this family such as cucumbers, angled luffas, pointed gourd, bottle gourd are all high in water and fibre, making them an almost complete meal in themselves.

Bottle gourd is one such staple summer veggie in our household. It is a popular vegetable in the south and southeast Asian region where summer gets extremely hot and sultry. Growing up, this vegetable featured regularly on our menus throughout the week during summer. Many of us from India also know it as Lauki. It is usually not a very well-liked vegetable due to its watery taste. However, if prepared well most people do grow to like it as my fussy husband has 😉 I remember enjoying it with hot ghee rice and chilled yogurt on a hot summer afternoon with some raw onions mixed with pickle masala on the side.

The Benefits of Lauki Chana Dal

Although very healthy, the veggie is low in protein. But that problem gets addressed as soon as you add Chana dal (split chickpeas) to it. It also makes for a much more delicious one-pot meal. Using mustard oil enhances the flavour multiple-fold but feel free to use the oil of your choice. Another key ingredient is fenugreek seeds. They are well known for their multiple benefits. However one needs to be careful while cooking with fenugreek as using an excessive amount makes the food bitter and so does overcooking it.

Using a pressure cook reduces the cooking time to a great extent, however you could use a normal thick bottomed wok as well. Here is a stepwise instruction with images to make this tasty dish.

First, I peeled and cubed a small-sized bottle gourd and kept aside. Then to hot oil, I added fenugreek (methi)seeds, finely chopped garlic, asafoetida, and green chilies (as per taste) and sautéed on medium-low flame for a few seconds making sure the methi doesn’t burn.

To that, I added pre-soaked chana dal (washed and soaked in water for 30 minutes) and turmeric and mixed everything well.

The last step – I added the cubed bottle gourd and salt, mix, and pressure cooked for 5 minutes till the pressure set in. Then turned off the heat and let the pressure release on its own and took off the lid and cooked till the water (good quality bottle gourd releases a lot of water) reduced to the desired consistency.

If you are using a normal wok, just cover and cook till done, keeping the flame to medium-low and stirring intermittently. There is no need to add additional water.

This curry is enjoyed best with hot rice and daal but tastes good with chapatis too.

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