Bottle Gourd sambhar

The bottle gourd a.k.a (calabash, o.p.o squash) is a vine grown for its fruit. It can either be harvested in the young stage to be used as a vegetable or harvested in the mature stage, dried, and used as a bottle, utensil, or pipe.
The bottle gourd is yellowish-green in colour and usually in the shape of a bottle. The vegetable has a white pulp, with white seeds embedded in the spongy flesh. It is cultivated in the humid weather of Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, China, tropical Africa and South America. It is also locally known in many places as bottle squash, white gourd, trumpet gourd, lauki, doodhi, ghia and calabash gourd.
When lauki is cooked or juiced, it has proven to have sedative and anti-bilious properties. Eating lauki gives a relaxed feeling.

Bottle gourd – Calorie content
100 g of bottle gourd contains 15 calories.
100 g for edible portion contains 1 g fat. Its water content is 96%.
It is low in saturated fat, cholesterol, high in dietary fiber, Vitamin C, riboflavin, zinc, thiamine, iron, magnesium.

Health benefits of Bottle gourd :

• Bottle gourd is one of the lowest calorie vegetables- carrying just 14 calories per 100 g.
• It is one of the vegetables recommended by the dietitians in weight-control programs. 
• Fresh gourds contain small quantities of folates, contain about 6 µg/100g (provide just 1.5% of RDA). Folate helps reduce the incidence of neural tube defects in the newborns when taken by anticipate mothers during their early months of pregnancy. 
• Fresh calabash gourd is a modest source of vitamin-C (100 g of raw fruit provides 10 mg or about 17% of RDA). Vitamin-C, one of the powerful natural antioxidants that help the human body scavenge harmful free radicals, which labeled as one of the reasons for cancer development. 
• Calabash facilitates easy digestion and movement of food through the bowel until it is excreted from the body. Thus, it helps in relieving indigestion and constipation problems. 
• Also, the vegetable is also a modest source of thiamin, niacin (vitamin B-3), pantothenic acid (vitamin B-5), pyridoxine (vitamin B-6) and minerals such as calcium, iron, zinc, potassium, manganese and magnesium. 
• Bottle gourd tender leaves and tendrils are also edible and indeed contain higher concentrations of vitamins and minerals than its fruit. 

So I am here with including my favorite calabash in my routine cooking and today I am making bottle gourd sambhar. its so healthy protein packed, super healthy and lip smacking.

Ingredients:

1. Bottle gourd 
2. toor dal 
3. tomato 
4. onion 
5. turmeric 
6. tamarind and jaggery paste 
7. cilantro for garnish 
8. water 

For tadka:

1. Oil/ghee 
2. mustard seeds 
3. cumin 
4. asafeotida 
5. curry leaves. 
6. sambhar powder 

Method:

• In a pressure cooker take 1 cup of toor dal , add chopped tomatoes, onions, and calabash and pressure cook them for 3-5 whistles. 
• After the pressure cooker is cooled, open the lid and churn the dal into smooth texture. 
• Add the tamarind-jaggery paste and mix well. 
• Make the tadka, add sambhar powder and pour into the dhal mixture and get it to boiling bubble. 
• Garnish with cilantro, enjoy with Hot rice , dosa , idli or roti.