Laucki Chana Dal (Bottle Gourd, Ghiya, Doodhi)
Laucki Chana Dal is is a healthful, wholesome lentil and vegetable main dish. Having a low glycemic index, it is especially good for diabetics.
Ingredients
- 1 medium bottle gourd (laucki, ghiya, doodhi)
- 1/2 cup yellow split gram (chana dal)
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds jeera
- 1/8 tsp asafetida hing
- 2 whole red chilies
- 1 tsp ginger shredded adrak
- 1/4 tsp turmeric haldi
- 1/2 tsp chili powder, adjust to taste
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp mango powder amchoor
- 2 tbsp cilantro finely chopped hara dhania
- 1 cup water used as needed
Instructions
- Wash and soak chana dal for one hour or more.
- Peel and wash laucki (bottle gourd). Cut into half-inch cubes.
- Heat the oil in a saucepan. Test the heat by adding one cumin seed to the oil; if the seed cracks right away, the oil is ready. Add the cumin seeds. When seeds start to crack, add the asafetida and whole red chilies. Stir for a few seconds. Add ginger, turmeric, and chili powder and stir for a few seconds.
- Add the chana dal, bottle gourd, salt, and one cup of water (adjust as needed to desired gravy thickness; bottle guard varies in moisture content).
- Cook the chana dal until soft. About fifteen minutes. Turn off the heat and add the mango powder, garam masala, and cilantro. Stir and cover the pan for a few minutes before serving.
Notes
Serving suggestion Serve with roti (whole wheat flat bread), paratha (flat bread), or plain rice. Variations Mango powder can be replaced with lemon juice. Add two tablespoons dry fenugreek leaves or two tablespoons of fresh chopped fenugreek leaves when adding the bottle gourd.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
I just tried it out and it was delicious with rotis. I also added green chillies and topped off with coconut milk at the end!
making changes are always good and creating your own recipe
The closest thing I can get to lauki is zucchini…how many zucchini should I use in place of a bottle gourd?
If i donot want to use hing what else i can use with it?
Was looking for a recipe to use up the lauki lying in my fridge. Glad I found this recipe. At first was quite apprehensive how it would turn out to be. But the outcome was just amazing. My husband loved it too. Thank you.
Madame Manjula ji !
As an amature cook I love to cook for my family members,if also I m a doctor in profession. From the very begining I m watching your recipes.I must say u r simply GREAT.May god bless u a healthy life to teach us colorful cooking. Thank u for all.
Manjula,
You’re the greatest Indian cooking teacher! I love chana dal and I soak the dried beans in a brine (1tsp to 1 quart water) overnight and I like the texture it gives.
I always use hing now that I saw it on your Youtubes.
Antiji , is it possible to show the timer at the time of recording the whole vdo in your edited vdo-recipe so we can know the exact time taken at each step of recipe.
Manjulaji, I am used to making Southern Indian food. But I wanted to learn the Northern Indian cooking and I have prepared using recipes from other sources. It has been okay but not great. I am so happy that I found you. I am making this for dinner tonight.
Vani
Manjula, you never cease to amaze me. This recipe is SOOOOOO GOOOODDDDD. You truly are an inspiration to me, and it is because of you that I am now a vegetarian.
I loved this, it was the best dal I’ve ever made! In case anybody is wondering, it works fine without a pressure cooker. I used an ordinary frying pan and it was about 10-15 minutes before the chana dal was soft. I also left the skin on the bottle gourd and it was lovely.
My family and I love this recipe! I am so glad you are doing videos. It gives me something to look forward to. You new recipes! Everyone I have tried is so delicious and my family loves them. Thanks so much. You are appreciated!!
Rachel
Bagi, if you cannot find hing, just omit it. The recipe will still taste good.
Hi,
Thanks for the recipe… I cannot find hing in my place so is there any substitute for that?
“If you cannot find it, substitute asafoetida with two cloves of garlic, peeled and slivered. Substitute ¼ tsp asafoetida powder with ¼ garlic powder + ¼ onion powder.”
http://www.allfoodsnatural.com/condiments/spices/313-asafoetida.html
hi manjula aunty,
do we need to remove the seeds center portion of doodhi ………r use it as it is…
Vilekha, watch the video too. You will see that she does remove the seeds. The videos give more tips than just reading the recipe.
Sorry, I commented incorrectly. I was thinking of the Lauki Kheer recipe.
Hi can I add Moong ki Wadhi with lauki instead of chana dal
Pamela,
sounds great.
Can we make this in coconut gravy?
Hi Kavita,
It should taste good; I am not used to use much coconut in cooking.
Hello Aunty
We can use wet shredded coconut grind with red chilli powder alongwith some water and we can add that coconut paste at time of adding water, this will also give thickness to the recipe.
This was great. I like it spicy so I added more chili powder and chilies. I could find thae gourd so I used green squash.
The one thing I couldn’t do – get the dal tender (even after soaking for an hour) before the squash gets too soft. The second time I made it I added the squash about half way through the cooking process.
All I can say is Manjula rocks. The recipes are simple, quick, and fantastic!
Soak the dal in hot water. That will help.
u can even use oil and turmeric to cook any type of dal to get theml tender quickly…………..
I do it with moong dal instead of channa dal
hey,cool …looking nice…here is my slow cooker version of the same recipe…
http://richaskitchen.blogspot.com/2010/01/chana-dallentil-with-lauki.html
Hey Manjula, the recipe looks great. Do you think the Gord could be replaced with pumpkin or other types of Squash?
Looks good. I’m curious, are you not supposed to cook the amchoor powder much, is that why you add it at the end with the garam masala? Does cooking it change the flavor of it?
Thanks for the recipe..I always used to add coriander powder and never liked it..Now,I will try this as per your recipe…Looks great..