Kaddu ka dalcha recipe : Authentic Hyderabadi Recipe

Hyderabadi food’s so much around meat that not many realise that the cuisine also has wonderful vegetarian dishes. Though limited in number, these dishes are quite an important part of Hyderabadi home cooking. You would rarely find vegetarian dishes in Hyderabadi restaurants. That’s the sad part. One such stunning vegetarian dish’s the Kaddu ka dalcha. It’s funny that what the rest of India calls lauki or bottle gourd, is called kaddu in Hyderabad. Dunno why, but that’s how it is here. So whenever you see a Hyderabadi dish with kaddu innit. You know it’s bottle gourd or lauki ‘n not pumpkin.  I’ve seen a TV host make the mistake of assuming that this was pumpkin ‘n not lauki. The kaddu ka dalcha recipe calls for Toovar dal, onion, ginger garlic, tomato, spices ‘n lots of bottle gourd. I love the subtlety of this dish.

Ingredients:

Toor Dal/Arhar Dal (Pigeon peas split ) – 250 gm
Turmeric Powder – ¼ tsp
Water
Oil – 2 tbsp
Onions – 1 medium size
Whole Garam Masala – 3 cloves, 2 cardamoms, 3 cinnamon sticks, 1 tsp shah zeera (Black Cumin seeds), 1 bay leaf
Ginger garlic paste – 1 tbs
Red chilli powder – 2 tsp
Tomatoes – 2
Bottle guard (Kaddu) – 1 medium sized
Salt
Mint Leaves
Coriander Leaves
Tamarind – 50 gm
Curry Leaves

Method:

• In a cooker, heat oil and add whole garam masala. Saute for 2-3 secs.

• Then add onions and saute until they are very light golden brown.

• Add ginger garlic paste, turmeric powder and red chilli powder and saute for 2-3 minutes.

• Add tomatoes, bottle guard and fry properly.

• Now add half glass of water, salt (1tbs approx.), mint leaves, coriander leaves and mix them. Close the cooker and let it cook for sometime (until 3 whistles approx)

• In another cooker, add water (Quantity: double the amount of toor dal) & Turmeric powder to Toor dal and boil it.

• Now mash the boiled dal and add tamarind juice to it. Then add curry leaves, coriander leaves and mint leaves and let the dal boil.

• Add the contents of tomato, bottle guard to the dal and let it boil for sometime.