Hyderabadi Kaddu ka Dalcha : lauki dal

Kaddu here doesnt mean pumpkin. In Hyderabad and Bangalore Bottle gaurd commonly known as LAUKI all over India in hindi is called as KADDU. 

Hence it is actually LAUKI KA DALCHA. 

It is very simple mouth watering extremely tasty curry. Suits well with plain rice, zeera rice or it is commonly made along side biryani as well. 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup soaked toovar dal(yellow lentils) or chana dal(bengal gram). Chana dal is preferred as it adds a different kind of buttery flavor.
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• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 2 tomatoes finely chopped
• water 2 cups

• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 cinnamon stick
• ½ tsp shahi zeera seeds(caraway seeds)
• 3-4 curry leaves
• 2-3 slit green chillies
• 1 small size bottle gourd/Lauki (cut into long pieces)
• 2 medium sized onions, finely sliced
• 2-3 tomatoes, finely chopped
• 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
• ½ tsp turmeric powder
• ½ tsp red chilli powder
• 1 cup water
• salt -to taste

• 1 small lemon sized tamarind, extracted pulp
• 2 tsp coriander leaves finely chopped for garnishing
• 1 tsp garam masala powder(powder of dalchini, elaichi, cloves, shahjeera)
• 5-6 curry leaves while boiling

INSTRUCTIONS

Cook dal first 

1. In a pressure cooker, add chana dal, add turmeric powder, add tomatoes, add water and pressure cook until the dal is tenderized.
2. Cook it for about 10 minutes or 5-6 whistles.
3. Reduce the steam of the cooker, mash the dal by adding salt, add tamarind pulp, mix well, check if salt is required and keep aside.

For Cooking Bottle Gourd/Lauki:

1. In a pressure cooker, heat oil, add cinnamon stick, add caraway seeds, add curry leaves, add slit green chillies, add the chopped tomatoes, add the onion slices and saute for a while.
2. Add bottle gourd(lauki) slices, add ginger garlic paste, add turmeric powder, add pinch of red chilli powder, mix well, add water, add salt as per taste and pressure cook for about 3 whistles for the lauki to get soft.
3. Lastly Combine everything that is the dal with tamarind pulp and the cooked Kaddu curry all together.
4. To it add garam masala powder, curry leaves, coriander leaves, add some sugar to kill the sour taste(optional).
5. Bring the whole mixture to a boil on sim flame.
6. Garnish with coriander leaves. 

ENJOY!!!!

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.