Lauki Chutney: Bottle Gourd Chutney with Peel

Don’t throw away bottle gourd peel – use it in lauki chutney. Pair with hot rice and ghee for a wholesome, comforting meal.

This botle gourd chutney recipe mostly follows Sailu’s sorakaya pachadi recipe. What I do differently is add more coriander leaves and, occasionally, more peel left over from other bottle gourd recipes: saadi lauki sabzi or lauki aloo stew, for example. The chutney turns out a deeper hue than what’s pictured in the source.

The taste: delicious!

You Need:

• Bottle gourd – 200 grams (~2 cups when cut into 1-cm cubes)
• Coriander leaves – 100 grams (~1/2 packed cup when chopped)
• Tamarind – small blob, the size of a quarter kafir lime. Soak in a tablespoon of warm water for 20 minutes
• Salt – 1/3 teaspoon or to taste
• Jaggery – 1/3 teaspoon or to taste
• Garlic – 5 cloves
• Green chilies – 3
• Dry red chili – 1 or 2
• Urad dal – 1 teaspoon
• Chana dal – 1 tablespoon
• Coriander seeds – 1 teaspoon
• Cumin seeds – 1 teaspoon
• Oil – 3 teaspoons

For the tadka:

• Salt – a pinch
• Dry red chili – 1
• Urad dal – 1/4 teaspoon
• Curry leaves – 6
• Mustard seeds – 1/2 teaspoon
• Asafoetida powder – a pinch
• Oil – 1 teaspoon

How To Make Lauki Chutney / Bottle Gourd Chutney with Peel:

1. Fry the dals and whole spices

Heat two teaspoons of oil in a pan.

Add to the hot oil cumin seeds, coriander seeds, chana dal and urad dal (in that order).

Set heat to low and let the whole spices and dals fry till golden.

This would take around 3 minutes. Turn off the heat. Take out of the pan and let cool.

2. Saute the greens and chilies

Wash and chop coriander leaves.

Slit green chilies into two. Break dry red chili into 2-3 pieces.

To the same pan in which the dals were fried, add garlic cloves and dry red chili pieces. When the the chili sizzles, add it to green chilies and coriander leaves.

Sauté on medium heat for a minute, stirring regularly. The coriander leaves will give off water and turn a darker hue.

Take the sautéed greens and chilies out of the heat too, and let cool.

3. Cook the bottle gourd

Chop the bottle gourd into 1-cm cubes. If using extra bottle gourd peel, wash and chop them too into similar-sized strips.

To the same pan in which the greens were sautéed, add another teaspoon of oil and add the bottle gourd peel strips and chopped bottle gourd.

Cook on medium heat, stirring every other minute, till the bottle gourd has softened enough to eat. This would take around 10 minutes.

Let the pan cool a bit.

4. Put it all together

In a grinder, grind the ingredients in FIFO order.

5. Do the tadka

Heat a teaspoon of oil in a tadka ladle.

To the hot oil, add mustard seeds, asafoetida powder, dry red chili, curry leaves and urad dal. As soon as the dal turns golden, add a pinch of salt, swivel the ladle to mix and turn off the heat.

Pour the hot tadka over the bottle gourd chutney.

Serve lauki chutney / bottle gourd chutney with hot rice and ghee.

Notes:

Try other Andhra-style recipes: tomato peanut chutney, ridge gourd moong dal, palak toor dal.