Lau Moong or Bottle gourd cooked with yellow Moong dal/Split Green Gram Dal

     Bottle Gourd is mainly a summer vegetable but it is available all year round in India. Even though it is not so popular in Western World, but it is widely used in India. Bottle gourd has many healing powers, it is valuable treating Urinary disorder, balancing Liver Function, treating High blood pressure and heart disease, treating Insomnia and other nervous disorders and many more. Ayurveda, the traditional Indian Herbal medicinal system, suggests bottle gourd juice once daily early in the morning helps treating graying hair, stomach acidity, digestive disorders and ulcers.

Lau, as bottle gourd is known in Bengali, in other parts of India, it is known as Lauki or Dudhi, is very low caloric vegetable and very low in fat. Because of its high water content, it's very cooling, calming, diuretic and easy to digest. Therefore, it's a great summer food. It is rich in iron and also has vitamins C and B complex. It is high in fiber, thus very effective for light, low calorie diet, people with digestive disorders and constipation. If you are planning to loose weight, add it to your diet daily.

There are varieties of ways we cook this vegetable. Here are some I already blogged :

• Lau shukto( bottlegourd with bitter gourd)
• Doodh Lau(bottlegourd cooked in milk) 
• Lau-er Tarkari (a vegetable medley with bottle gourd) 
• Lau kasha/masaledar Lau(Bottle gourd in a spicy gravy)
• Bottlegourd Juice, cools your body from inside 

 Today I'm going to share another delicious recipe where we add yellow lentil or Moong Dal in finely chopped bottle gourds and very few delicate spices and create a flavourful, delicious and a filling vegetarian side dish which goes well with freshly made hot rice or even with rotis. So, let's move on to the recipe...........................

You Need :
Bottle gourd(medium) : 1, peeled and cubed in small pieces
Yellow lentil/Moong Dal/split green gram dal : 1/2 cup, washed and dried
Tomato : 1/2, chopped
Green chilli : 1-2 nos.
Ginger(grated) : 1/2 "
Dry red chilli : 1 
Bay leaf : 1
Cumin seeds : 1 tsp.
Turmeric powder : 1 tsp.
Red Chilli powder : 1 tsp.(optional)
Cumin powder : 1 tsp.
Oil, mustard oil preferably : 1 tblsp.
Salt to taste
Ghee : 1 tsp.
Fresh coriander leaves to garnish

How To :

• Wash the moong dal or yellow lentil  very well, then spread on a paper kitchen towel to soak the water for 10 minutes. Heat a griddle or tawa, roast the dal on medium heat till they are reddish brown but not burnt, stir continuously otherwise dal gets burnt quickly. When you get the roasted aroma, take out from heat and keep aside.
• Cook the dal : in a big pan, boil water to cook the dal, add roasted dal, a pinch of salt and turmeric powder and cook till dal looks soft but retain its shape and not mushy. when done, drain and keep aside.
• Cook the bottlegourd : Heat oil in a pan. temper with bay leaf, dry red chilli and cumin seeds, when seed crackle, add chopped tomatoes and green chillies. When tomatoes are soft, add grated ginger and turmeric, red chilli and cumin powder one by one and mix well. Cook the spices adding 1 spoon of water.
• When spices are cooked, add chopped lau or bottle gourd, mix well with the spices. Add little water, as bottlegourd can release some water. Season with salt. Cover with lid and cook till bottle gourd is half done. Now add cooked green gram or moong dal in the bottlegourd. Mix well and again cook covered till moong dal and bottlegourd both are cooked. 
• Lastly, add ghee in it and mix well, cook for another 1 minute. Garnish with fresh chopped coriander leaves. 

Serve it with piping hot rice and any kind of dal(lentil soup).