How to make Toor Masala Daal with Dudhi / Lauki

Masala daal with lauki / lentils with bottle gourd is a spicy dish in which lentils are boiled and tossed in Indian spices with bottle gourd, its totally desi daal.
You can serve this masala daal with pomfret fry or prawns fry or bombay ducks fry ( Bombay Duck Fry Recipe) or with any of dry cuisine with accomplishments. You can serve masala daal and rice with fried chicken, drum sticks, shaami kebbabs…(Shaami Kebaab Recipe) etc….
But yes this masala daal is simple incomplete without lemon wedges, yes trust me…..serve basmati tadka rice ( seasoned rice ) with masala daal and dudhi, and squeeze a good amount of lemon on your platter…..it tastes out of the world……yummmmm…!

Infact you can serve with any kind of fried fish, depending upon your choice but I love this daal accompanied with the above mentioned fried ones. Though being a Muslim ( follower of Islam) I have been having it since childhood, I still remember that when ever we had any get together at home, caterers were allotted this kind of masala daal dudhi ( lauki), rice with saucy chicken piece ( sauce wali murgi as we use to and still address it with) and i proudly admit that we still order masala daal to caterers and the taste is still the same…..outstanding, delicious and lip smacking……
Here is a simple recipe of how to make masala daal with lauki/ dudhi…..hope you all like it…

INGREDIENTS:
3/4 cup split pigeon pea (tuvar daal)
3/4 cup split Bengal gram ( chana daal)
2 large tomatoes
1 onion finely sliced
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
2 tsp coriander powder
2 tsp coriander seeds ( roasted and coarsely grind)
3- 4 green chillies crushed
2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp garam masala
200 gms Bottle gourd
1 tsp cumin seeds
few curry leaves
Coriander leaves
1 – 2 tbsp lemon juice ( optional)
salt
oil.

METHOD:

1. Wash both the pulses ( daal ) and add to pressure cooker,with appropriate amount of water and salt along with 1/2 tsp turmeric powder and make 2 -3 whistle on high flame, then slow down the flame and let it make 3 – 4 whistles.
You can cook in a pot or vessel directly without using cooker, but that will take time and if you want to boil the lentils in the pot or vessel then soak the lentils for an hour or two before you cook in pot.

2. Peel the bottle gourd and slit it into two halves from the middle, now chop it into very thick pieces as shown in the pic and keep aside in water, but do not forget to cut a bit of middle seeds portion of each bottle gourd.

3. Once the gas is off, let the pressure move out completely from the cooker and then see the if the lentils are cooked or no, if they left uncooked again pressure it in cooker ( you can add 2 cups of water if its dry by now). And if the daal is properly cooked ( do not mash the lentils/daal) add salt and bottle gourd, cover and cook on low flame until lauki is almost done.( do not use pressure cooker lid instead take a flat lid and cover it, cook on low flame till lauki/ bottle gourd is almost done)

4. In a non stick pan or kadhai, heat oil, add curry leaves and 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, let it splutter. Now add finely chopped onions and fry until they turn golden brown.

5. Add ginger garlic paste and saute until the raw smell dissappears.

6. Add one peeled and chopped tomato and fry until it turns into a paste.

7. Add salt, termeric powder, coriander powder, red chillli powder and fry until the oil separates.

8. In a mortar add green chillies, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds and garlic, crush it with pestle. Add this crushed garlic,chilies and coriander seeds crushed and saute for a minute.

9. Now pour this prepared mixture into daal and add one whole tomato just slited into four till half ( do not slit fully), and add 1 – 2 cups of water in the masala pan and pour again the left over masala that was stick to the sides or bottom of the pan.

10. Add garam masala powder and lemon juice ( if you do not want to add it, skip it) and let it simmer for 10 minutes, adjust the salt and spice, off the gas once the whole tomato is cooked where as bottle gourd is completely done. Lastly garnish with Coriander leaves and serve hot with flavored rice or plain rice and lemon wedges.

NOTE:

Pass a knife in between the bottle gourd to check weather its completely cooked or no, if it passes very smoothly that means it done and if its hard that means you need to cook for some more time.
Lentils, if kept for a very long time, they tend to take a long time to get cooked, so if you using that then it will take time to be cooked in pot as well as in cooker, much more than the new ones, so avoid such daals.
Do not mash the daal , once the daal is cooked you will notice that almost three fourth portion of daal is mashed by itself where as there would be few whole soft bengal gram ( chana daal ) visible , I simply love it, I feel it gives a better taste to my daal and caterers also do this.
In step 3, I have said cover and cook bottle gourd until its almost done, here I used the word “almost”, means make sure that bottle gourd do not get cooked completely because after that you still have to simmer for 10 more minutes toward the end and if before only, you cook bottle gourd completely then by the time ur daal is prepared, bottle gourd will break into pieces, which should not happen, bottle gourd should be cooked completely but with due respect retaining its proper shape till the end.
If you do not want to add lemon juice , you can skip it, but serve with lemon wedges for best results, But if you have added then , there is no point serving with lemon wedges.
Increase or decrease the number of red chilly powder and green chilies as per your preferences.