Lauki Aloo: Bottle Gourd and Potato Stew
19 Oct
When you want a simple tasty vegetable curry to be ready without much effort, this stew of bottle gourd, potatoes and tomatoes is your answer. Use a pressure-cooker to make lauki aloo and you save a lot on time too.
You can vary the quantity of the three vegetables in lauki aloo to suit your taste. I cook this with approximately the same amount of bottle gourd as potatoes.
You Need:
- Bottle Gourd – 400 grams
- Potatoes – 2 large
- Tomatoes – 2
- Red chili powder – 1 teaspoon
- Turmeric powder – 1/2 teaspoon
- Salt – to taste
- Fenugreek seeds – 1/2 teaspoon
- Mustard or cumin seeds – 1 teaspoon
- Asafoetida powder – a pinch
- Mustard oil – 2 teaspoons (1 teaspoon will do, but since this stew is low on other spices I like to balance it with the extra tang of mustard)
How To Make Lauki Aloo:
Peel the potatoes and bottle gourd.
Chop the three veggies – potatoes, bottle gourd and tomatoes – into large chunks.
Heat mustard oil in the pressure cooker. When hot, add fenugreek seeds and mustard/cumin seeds. Within a few seconds, the fenugreek seeds will turn brown and the mustard/cumin seeds will have popped. Then add asafoetida powder and potato cubes. After 2-3 minutes, add turmeric and red chili powder. Stir around for a minute.
Bottle gourd and tomato chunks go in next along with salt. Cook on high flame for another 2-3 minutes. The tomatoes will begin to turn mushy and the spices will have evenly coated the vegetables.
Add a cup of water to the pressure cooker.
Lock the lid of the pressure cooker. Cook on high flame till one whistle, then set the flame to low. The time for which you need to cook further depends on the size and type of your pressure cooker. Mine takes one more whistle (approximately 4 mins).
Let the pressure cooker release steam naturally. Unlock the lid.
Lauki aloo (bottle gourd potato stew) is ready to eat.
Serve lauki aloo hot with chapatis or rice, and a dry vegetable fry on the side.
Notes:
1. If you use asafoetida as granules instead of powder, put it into the hot oil before the fenugreek and mustard seeds.
2. If you are not using a pressure cooker, a pan with a closed lid will work. It will only have to stay on the heat a while longer.
3. I invite you to try some more elaborate recipes that use bottle gourd:
- Parsi dhansak – a rich medley of legumes, gourds and squashes together with aromatic spices
- Lauki kofta – bottle gourd balls fried and simmered in an onion-tomato gravy
- Lauki paratha – pan-toasted flatbread with grated bottle gourd and seasonings
Have actually started liking lauki very recently..loved the colors of your sabzi, and this easy recipe.
i made it today.its really simple and nice for a change.
Great to hear that malvika :)
Lovely recipe and very easy to make .
Thank you Rattan!