Laucki chana dal is a healthy main dish and has both vegetable and lentil making a wholesome meal.

Ingredients

• 1 medium bottle gourd (laucki, ghiya, doodhi)
• 1/2 cup yellow split gram (chana dal)
• 2 tablespoon oil
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
• A pinch of asafetida (hing)
• 2 whole red chilies
• 1 teaspoon shredded ginger (adrak)
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
• 1/2 tsp red chili powder adjust to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt adjust to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon of garam masala (optional)
• 1 teaspoon mango powder (amchoor) adjust to taste
• About 2 tablespoon finally chopped cilantro (hara dhania)
• 1 cup of water adjust as needed

Method

1. Wash and soak chana dal for 1 hour or more.
2. Peel, wash and cut bottle gourd into ½ inch cubes.
3. Heat the oil in a saucepan. Test the heat by adding one cumin seed to the oil; if seed cracks right away oil is ready.
4. Add the cumin seeds as they crack add asafetida, and whole red chilies stir for few seconds.
5. Next add ginger, turmeric, and chili powder and stir for few seconds.
6. Add gram (chana dal), bottle gourd, salt and 1cup of water. Water can be adjusted as needed as some time bottle guard will have more or less moisture and depends how much gravy one prefers.
7. Cook till gram dal (chana dal) gets soft.
8. Turn off the heat and add mango powder, garam masala, and cilantro. Stir and cover the pan for few minutes before serving.

Serving suggestion

Serve with roti or paratha or with plain rice.

Variations

1. Mango powder can be replaced with lemon juice.
2. Add 2 tablespoon of dry fenugreek leaves or 2 tablespoons of fresh chopped fenugreek leaves same time adding the bottle gourd.