Lauki-Chana Dal(Bottle gourd- bengal gram) Curry

This authentic Gujarati vegetable main course is a regular dish prepared at my home. As I am at mom’s place right now , I rarely think to enter kitchen even . Though when “L” of Nupur ‘s A-Z of vegetables event came to my mind, I couldn’t resist myself making this beloved Gujarati dish or mine. We call it Dudhi chana nu Shaak in Gujarati.
This is a good option for those who don’t love bottle gourd directly. At my place too hubby likes it though he don’t like Luaki much. According to him this makes a good combination and the taste of final dish is totally different than lauki curry : ) .oh…., I miss Deepak’s compliments the most when I make something here these days.

Ingredients :
1 bottle gourd(lauki) , medium sized,
1 ½ cup of Bengal gram (chana Dal)
1 tsp garlic chopped width wise,
½ tsp mustard seeds,
1 tsp cumin seeds,
½ tsp turmeric powder,
1 tsp red chili powder,
1 tsp cumin-coriander seeds powder,
2-3 tsp oil,
Salt to taste,
Coriander leaves to garnish .

Method:
Soak chana dal(Bengal gram) into water 1 hour prior to cooking.
Peel, wash and chop lauki (bottle gourd) into medium sized cubes.
In a separate vessel boil the chana dal until it is soft.
Remove the excess water from it and keep aside.
Peel the garlic cloves and cut it width wise. (you can use the garlic paste too ) .
In a frying pan heat the oil, when bit hot add mustard seeds and cumin seeds to it, as it start to pop up add turmeric powder and immediately add the Lauki cubes to it.
Mix it well and let it cook , stirring occasionally ,until lauki is cooked fully.
If bottle gourd (lauki) you are using is not much soft then it takes little water added to this to cook it well, in such case cook it until bottle gourd cubes are soft and all water part is evaporated from it.
Next add boiled chana dal(Bengal gram) , red chilli powder and salt to it. Mix it well and finally add cumin –coriander powder to it. mix well, garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with chapati.


This is my entry for A-Z of vegetables of Nupur.
Thanks Nupur :D , for giving me a chance to present this dish.