Gardudde (Lauki/ Bottle Gourd Besan Kadhi with garlic.

"Gardudde (Lauki/ Bottle Gourd Besan Kadhi with garlic" ... one of the tastiest heart warming meal is always Kadhi with Chawal or Moong dal- Rice Khichidi (Pongal)/ plain rice/ Jeera Rice ... tried out this simple kadhi with inclusion of lauki, it tastes fantastic .... Yummilicious ...... 

** Kadhi is a common dish in our house as all of you must be aware by now and I love preparing them with different combinations. Recently for the first time I had prepared the same with eggs. As I already mentioned curds are always stocked in my fridge. They come in handy if I have to prepare something fast and tasty.

** My husband is very fond of kadhi and addition of anything to it is good for him. I had half a gardudde/ lauki/ bottle gourd in the fridge unused and was thinking of ways of using it. So went ahead, pressured cooked them and prepared this awesome besan kadhi. I seasoned it with garlic to bring in that aromatic flavour. 

** Again many of my friends keep telling me kadhi is prepared with hing ie asafoetida seasoning only, giving advice from the old school rules. I just say yes and go about add my garlic seasoning as it is or along with hing. I would like to suggest all should try out more options on cooking methods after all there is more to cooking 

** This time, I made some tweaks by adding red chilly powder and a little bit of fennel powder and off course garlic seasoning. I must say it turned out fantastic. Go ahead and try out this combination,  you will be amazed how simple and quick the curry is in making and how much it tastier it is when served with khichidi/ pongal/ rice/ jeera rice.

** Here is my simple recipe for "Gardudde (Lauki/ Bottle Gourd Besan Kadhi with garlic" .... My style ...

Ingredients :

1 cup Skimmed Milk Curds/ Dahi/ Yogurt : 1 cup

Chickpeas Flour/ Besan/ Chane Peeta : 2-3 tbsp 

Turmeric/ Haldi powder : 1 tsp

Red Chilli Powder/ Mirsange Pitti/ Mirchi Tikkat : 1 tsp 

Fennel/ Badisep/ Saunf Seeds Powder : 1 tsp 

Water : 3 cups 

Salt/ Namak/ Meeta : to taste

** For Seasoning/ Tempering/ Tadka/ Pannaka :

Coconut Oil/ Nariyal Tel/ Narlela Tela : 1-2 tsp

Hing/ Asafoetida powder : 1 tsp

Garlic/ Losun/ Lehsun : 15-20  (Skinned) kept whole 

** Peel of the skin of gardudde/ lauki/ bottle gourd and cut them into medium sized cubes. Put them in the pressure cooker pan with a pinch of haldi powder and 2 cups of water. Pressure cook to one whistle and keep aside.

** Beat curds well adding water, chickpeas flour, chilly powder, fennel seeds powder, turmeric powder, salt to taste to a smooth consistency. There should be no lumps in the mixture. Bring to a boil on medium heat stirring often.  

** When it comes to a boiling point, add in the cooked gardudde/ lauki along with the cooked water and mix well. If too thick you can add some more water. Once it comes to boil, lower the heat and simmer on low heat for 5 minutes only. 

** For Seasoning/ Tempering/ Tadka/ Pannaka : Heat oil in a pan, when hot add garlic and fry on medium heat till evenly browned. Remove and pour over kadhi, and keep it aside covered for 15 minutes for flavors to be infused.

** "Gardudde (Lauki/ Bottle Gourd Besan Kadhi with garlic" is done and ready to be served. Mix the kadhi well before serving, check out consistency and if thickened too much then add some hot water. Serve hot with pulav or khichidi. You can serve this with plain rice too. But it tastes best with flavored rice.