Lauki(Laau) With Moong Daal : Mom's Recipe

After my first attempt at cooking which made me realize what my mom was doing for the past 25 years is damn hard thing to do day in day out, all thanks to our Indian Male dominated(chauvinist) Society.

So this is my first recipe which I am going to share with all of you is my mother's tasty recipe Lauki(Bottle Gourd) Moong Daal. 

A word of encouragement to all my bachelor friends this a very easy dish and it takes around 30 minutes to get it done and you can try this out as soon as you read my log.

It was almost three months into my dish washing career and fresh of the success of making lunch for self. I was gunning to try another dish and this time get a tasting done from all my room mates. I was talking to my mother and I was expressing my desire to cook and she suddenly prompted "Laau Moong Daal Bana" (please make Lauki Moong Daal). I checked our fridge and there was 2/3 rd piece Lauki laying there and I made up my mind. LET'S DO IT

Ingredients You Need  To Satisfy Four Bachelor's Appetite :

1. 500 gm of Lauki(Bottle Gourd)
2. 2 cups of Moong Daal
3. 1 tbsp of Saahi Jeera
4. 1 small piece of ginger
5. 1 tbsp of Ghee
6. 2-3 Green Chilly
7. 1 Dry Red Chilly
8. 1 Bay Leaf
9. 1 tsp of Turmeric(Haldi) powder
10. 1 tsp of Jeera Powder
11. 1 tsp of Sugar
12. Salt to Taste

Preparation Time: 

As for beginner it will take 40 mints

Procedure:

In my flat what we do is put on some music and then go for cooking, so how can I break this new found tradition. Sheela was showing of her jawani and there I stood in the kitchen arranging every thing.

• Cut the Lauki (Bottle Gourd) into small cubes and wash it thoroughly. Put all of it in a pressure cooker and add a half tsp of salt, please don't put any water. Close the lid and put it on medium flame.
• As the Lauki  (Bottle Gourd) is cooking, heat up the pan or kadai and dry roast the moong daal till it gets a light brown texture, take it of the heat.
• Put the roasted Moong Daal in a water bath and boil it for 12-15 minutes. 
• As soon as the first whistle take the cooker of the heat and you will see the Lauki(Bottle Gourd) had released water and its juices.
• Heat up the pan on medium flame and add 2 tbsp of Oil. Let the oil heat up, put the Saahi Jeera, Dry Red Chilly and the Bay Leaf. As the Jeera starts to sputter add the grated Ginger and the green chilies slit from middle. Saute this for about 40 seconds now add the Lauki(Bottle Gourd) along with all its juices from the cooker saute it for 3 minutes
• Add the Moong Daal and powdered spices (turmeric and jeera powder).Add two cups of the water along with sugar and salt to taste and mix well.
• Reduce the flame and let the daal simmer for 10 mints so that the daal gets a concentrated texture.
• Its almost done just one last thing left to do is spread the ghee over the daal and let it melt all over it.

Food Quote : "Please make it a practice to taste your dish before anyone has it"

This can be eaten with rice as well as roti or parathas. Please try this recipe and let me know if you like it.

Any improvements to the original recipe is most welcome.

Doing dishes to Tingling taste buds

Hey before talking about my passion I want to share how I ventured into these uncharted territory previously known to me as a girl thing. Never seen my dad do it nor did my mom let me do it. It all started with me leaving Kolkata in the summer on 2011 to settle in Pune working for an IT company. It was almost November of 2011 when I started out as a prolific dish washer in my flat. Though I must say I was good at it. Rajarshi and Shatadru were the head chef's at our place, the former was awesome with bong Veg dishes and the latter one can make you drool for his Chicken Curry. 
It was two months into my dish washing role when on a Bloody Monday I was in afternoon shift and was all alone in my flat when I realized, shit I have to cook lunch. First thing that came to my mind is I will have my lunch at some restaurant but then I heard a voice in my subconscious, it was a sweet feminine voice and was somehow very familiar. I kept listening carefully when its struck me it was the voice of the culinary goddess Nigella_Lawson. She was constantly nagging me to cook and told me she would  stop only if I turned the stove on to cook. So I did for the first time cooked RICE and MOONG daal by calling up Rajarshi 4 - 5 times but I must say he was very patiently listening to my queries and lending a helping hand.
I will be honest with you all I was not a disaster, it was very edible but I missed the salt in the daal.

From then on I have never looked back prepared almost 50 different dishes with the Bachelor's twist to some of them or just following my Mom's recipes. To be honest with you I screwed up few dishes but who does not, as I have learned from playing football all these years you never get dishearten because cooking is all the love you can spread. 

In this blog I will try to help all the Bachelors who are out there away from their families or with them  to take  
up cooking and not with my boring recipes but with the vivacious capture of a passion that is in every boy's heart all it needs is a spark to ignite.