Lauki | Bottle Gourd | Best Summer food
Lauki is one of the superfoods popularly known as Bottle Gourd. The botanical name of lauki is ‘Lagenaria Siceraria’ and belongs to the gourd family Cucurbitaceae.
History of Bottle Gourd:
Bottle gourd was native to Africa, but East Asians & Americans started using it as early as 10000 years ago. It is best grown in tropical climatic conditions. It is probably one of the first plants or fruit widely used worldwide due to its long history of domestication. The Lauki plant is not native to India but was adopted by Indian long ago. Since ancient times it has been used for its curative properties and mentioned in Ayurveda for traditional medical uses. It has been used as a vegetable since 2000 BCE in India.
A part of medical use, Lauki is also a part of the daily diet in the Indian kitchen. We consume it as juice, vegetables, desserts, and raita. Below we mentioned one of the simple and most popular vegetable preparation that is light and easy to digest.
Lauki ( Bottle Gourd) Ki Sabzi Recipe
Ingredients
- 500-600 gms Lauki | Bottle Gourd (Cut into Small Cubes)
- ½ cup Milk
- 1 tsp Cumin Seeds (Whole Jeera)
- 2-3 pcs Chopped Green Chilies
- ½ tsp Turmeric Powder (Haldi Powder)
- Pinch of Asafoetida (Hing)
- 1 tbsp Chopped Corriander leaves (for garnish)
- 1 tbsp Clarified buttter (Desi Ghee)
Instructions
- Heat Ghee in a Pan, add cumin seeds, and a pinch of asafoetida.
- Add turmeric powder, cubes of Bottle Gourd ( Lauki ), and chopped chilies, and cook it on medium flame.
- Add salt to taste and mix it well. Cover it and cook it for 7-10 minutes till the bottle gourd is well cooked.
- Add milk to it and cook it for another 3-4 minutes, so the vegetable absorbs the milk completely.
- Put chopped coriander leaves and turn off the flame.
- Serve this simple vegetable with Roti / Paratha as per your choice.
Video
Notes
- Lauki has more than 90% water content & helps you to beat the heat during the summer season.
- It is high in fiber which treats constipation problems.
- It is an Alkaline Vegetable that is a home remedy for urinary infection.
- People who are concerned about being overweight. It is low calories & high-fiber vegetable that is good for weight loss.
- Lauki is low in fats and cholesterol and rich in nutrients like Zinc, Iron, Magnesium, and Vitamin C. It has anti-oxidant properties along with Vitamin B & C.
- It has low sodium content that is beneficial for those having high Blood pressure & heart problem.
Musical Instrument made of bottle gourd :
You will be surprised to know that there are more than 700 species of bottle gourd there. The gourd is not only used for traditional medicine & used as a vegetable in our kitchen but is also used for making utensils & musical instruments.
Different sizes of gourd shells are used for making different instruments. Small gourd shells are dried and used for making Sarod & Sitar & big shells are used for making Tambura. Other countries are also using gourd shells for manufacturing their local musical instruments.
It is one of the gifts of nature, where we humans are not used in one region but used worldwide in our daily meal, as medicine, making of local utensils & musical instruments.
