I associated bottle gourd (gardudde in Konkani) with mostly with the burfis(khadi) . It was my favorite sweetdish while growing up. So whenever we got this vegetable, which was not that frequent, aayi made sure to prepare the burfis. Thanks to the yoga guru Ramdev’s TV programs, I started hearing more about this lauki(in Hindi). Due to the medicinal values of this vegetable, I started buying it and now it has become a regular in our diet. When I asked aayi for other dishes that we make with bottlegourd, she mentioned this ambat. This gardudde ambat is made like any other Konkani dali ambats.
Dali ambat is made with toor dal, a coconut masala and a vegetable. Finally a onion or mustard seeds-curry leaves seasoning is added. The taste of dal is influenced largely by the taste of the vegetable used.
Pictorial: Cook bottle gourd with dal and onions. Fry coriander seeds and grind with red chillies and coconut to a smooth paste. Add it to cooked dal. Fry remaining onions and add as seasoning.
Bottlegourd Dal (Gardudde Ambat)
Ingredients
- 2 cups peeled and chopped bottle gourd lauki or gardudde
- 1/2 cup fresh/grated coconut
- 1 cup toor dal
- A pinch turmeric
- 1/2 cup onion
- 1 tea spn coriander seeds
- 4-5 red chillies
- Oil
- 1 tea spn tamarind extract or 2-3 pieces of tamarind
- Salt
Instructions
- Cook toor dal with bottle gourd pieces, 1/4 cup onion and pinch turmeric - for 3-4 whistles.
- Heat a little oil and fry coriander seeds.
- Grind them with coconut, red chillies and tamarind to a smooth paste.
- Add the paste and salt to the dal.
- Add water to make it to required consistency.
- Cook till it starts boiling. Continue cooking for few more minutes. Take off heat.
- Heat oil separately and fry remaining onions till they turn slightly brownish.
- Pour the fried onions over the dal.
- Serve hot with rice.
Bottlegourd Dal (Gardudde Ambat)
Ingredients
- 2 cups peeled and chopped bottle gourd lauki or gardudde
- 1/2 cup fresh/grated coconut
- 1 cup toor dal
- A pinch turmeric
- 1/2 cup onion
- 1 tea spn coriander seeds
- 4-5 red chillies
- Oil
- 1 tea spn tamarind extract or 2-3 pieces of tamarind
- Salt
Instructions
- Cook toor dal with bottle gourd pieces, 1/4 cup onion and pinch turmeric - for 3-4 whistles.
- Heat a little oil and fry coriander seeds.
- Grind them with coconut, red chillies and tamarind to a smooth paste.
- Add the paste and salt to the dal.
- Add water to make it to required consistency.
- Cook till it starts boiling. Continue cooking for few more minutes. Take off heat.
- Heat oil separately and fry remaining onions till they turn slightly brownish.
- Pour the fried onions over the dal.
- Serve hot with rice.
Hope you all had a happy Ganesh chaturthi. We had a small pooja at home, kids had a lovely time. After all that heavy eating for the festival, we craved for something simple. I prepared these Kale parathas last week and they came out really good.
People are going crazy about Kale or leafy cabbage these days. You hear about kale chips, kale soup etc. I have tried earlier to include this in our diet. My family was not very impressed with it. Personally I liked kale soup . This time I thought of completely hiding it in some dish. I make spinach parathas very often and my kids love it. So I decided to make kale parathas. They came out really good. I quickly clicked some pictures to post it here.
Pictorial: Cook/steam kale. Grind into paste and add spices. Add flour and knead into dough. Roll into parathas. Roast on hot tava and serve hot.
Kale Paratha
Ingredients
- 1 bunch kale - remove thick stems
- 1 tea spn cumin seeds
- 3 green chillies
- 1 tbl spn plain yogurt/curd
- 1 tea spn garam masala
- 3 cups wheat flour
- Oil/Ghee
- Salt
Instructions
- Remove the stems of kale and chop roughly.
- Heat a cup of water and put kale. Cook for 3-4 mins (or steam it).
- Grind to a smooth paste with green chillies.
- Add cumin seeds, yogurt, garam masala, salt.
- Add wheat flour and mix it well to make a soft dough.
- Take small ball of dough, roll into a circle.
- Apply ghee or oil and then fold into triangle.
- Roll again into thin round.
- Roast on a hot tava.
- Serve hot with a spicy side dish or with plain yogurt and pickle.
