Duuuuuuude... it's a huge green vegetable thing - AKA Dudhi, Lauki, Bottle Gourd...

So it's been a busy few days of festivalling in India - Mother Mary's birthday, Eid and then finally Ganesh Chaturthi yesterday. Festivals in India tend to come with a lot of colour, noise, drums, fire crackers and fireworks, and men running around in matching jerseys like they're competing in some big Festival Worshipping tournament.

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And in all that busyness I forgot to get vegetables.

Which left me with two tomatoes, an onion, a potato that's sprouting, and some Dudhi, which is usually a component of Coco's Chicken & Veg... So on to the internet I went. There's loads of recipes out there for Dudhi, Doodhi, Lauki, Lau, Sorakaya, Opo, or whatever you want to call it, and many of them add quite a few other stuff for texture and flavour, as Dudhi has neither!

Besides the wide range of names for this vegetable, I also discovered that it is 96.1% water, aids digestion, there are just 12 calories in 100 grams of Dudhi, it's cooling and calming, and it's important in the treatment of urinary infections!

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So the one I went for was a Dudhi-Tomato Sabzi, as Tomato is one of my favourite veggies. The original recipe is here, but I used less oil and a smidge of water at the end and made it in a regular pan rather than in a pressure cooker.


Dudhi-Tomato Sabzi:

2 teaspoons oil
A pich of hing (asafoetida)
1 teaspoon jeera (cumin seeds)
2-3 tez patta (bay leaves)
2 medium tomatoes, finely chopped
1/2 kg dudhi, peeled and cut into small cubes
1/4 teaspoon haldi (turmeric powder)
1 teaspoon dhaniya (coriander) powder
1/2 teaspoon jeera (cumin) powder
1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder
salt to taste
coriander leaves, finely chopped for garnishing

1. Heat oil over a medium heat. Add hing,jeera & tez patta. Stir well for a few seconds.
2. When jeera crackles add tomato and fry until soft.
3. Add dudhi, mix well.
4. Add haldi, dhaniya, jeera, chilli powder and salt. Mix well.
5. Turn heat down, put a lid on the pot and cook until dudhi is soft. You may need to add a little water, but both dudhi and tomato contain lots of water, so watch and see.
6. Garnish with coriander

Serve with chapatti.

I may try out a few other Dudhi recipes sometime soon, maybe try some Dudhi Koftas... watch this space!

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