Chane ki Daal with Louki (split baby chickpeas lentil with bottle gourd) is traditional North Indian cuisine. Louki (Bottle Gourd) is not a welcome vegetable for most of the kids. Well, if there is Lauki ke kofte ki sabzi (grated bottle gourd dumplings in curry) then its a different story altogether. But as kofte ki sabzi involves deep fried preparation we cannot prepare this in our daily regular meals.
Then how to feed kids this very nutritious vegetable? Try to add chana daal along with louki and this dull vegetable will turn into a delicious dish. Just before serving, add one spoon of pure ghee (clarified butter) in this daal and the taste goes to another level.
There is one more variety of chana daal/split baby chickpea lentil with spinach in the blog – If you are interested, please take a look…Daal paalak (split chickpea lentil with spinach)
Ingrediants:
Chana daal 3/4 cup
Louki 200 grams
Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
Salt 1 tsp
Water 2 cups
Tadka (seasoning)
Rai (small mustard seeds) 1/2 tsp
Jeera (cumin seeds) 1/2 tsp
Hing (Asafotida) 1/8 tsp
Oil/ghee 3 tbsp
Red chilly powder 1 tsp
turmeric powder 1/8 tsp
Puree
2 tomatoes, 1 onion, 3-4 green chilies, tiny piece of ginger
Fresh coriander leaves for garnishing
A few points….
- You can reduce the quantity of louki.
- Cook chana daal on sim heat for at least 15 to 20 minutes as it takes slightly longer time to get cooked compared to other lentils.
- You can also add garlic in the puree.
- Ghee can be used to prepare tadka in place of oil.
Process:
Wash chana daal nicely and soak it in two cups of water for an hour. It will puff up nicely in one hour.
After an hour, wash, peel and chop louki in small pieces. Add turmeric powder and salt in chana daal along with louki pieces and pressure cook it till chana daal becomes soft.
While chana daal is getting cooked, we will prepare tadka. Wash and chop onion, tomatoes, green chilies and ginger and grind them in a mixer. Heat oil in a pan or wok and crackle rai, hing and jeera.
Add grinded puree in the oil and add turmeric and red chili powder. Cook till the water evaporates leaving only oil.
Daal must be cooked by now. Switch off the heat and remove the lid off the pressure cooker once it cools down.
Add this louki – daal in the ready tadka. If you feel that consistency is too thick, add hot water. Shift chane ki daal with louki in serving bowl and garnish with coriander leaves.
