Lauki Chana Dal is a nutritious and healthy dal recipe prepared with Bottle Gourd (aka Lauki, Dudhi or Ghiya), lentils and few spices making it a perfect dish for a wholesome lunch or busy weeknights.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 10 minutes
  • Cook time: 20 minutes
  • Total time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 4
  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

  • 1 cup chana dal (bengal gram) ((soaked for 1/2 hour))
  • 2 cups water (for soaking dal)
  • 500 grams lauki (bottle gourd) (peeled, de-seeded and chopped about 1 inch pieces (about 3 cups))
  • 1 cup onion (finely chopped)
  • 1 large tomato (finely chopped)
  • 1 tablespoon ginger garlic (minced)
  • 2 green chillies (finely chopped)
  • 1.5 cups water (for cooking)
  • 2 tablespoons coriander leaves
  • 1 tablespoon lime juice
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • salt (to taste)

Spices:

  • 1 teaspoon cumin (jeera)
  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder
  • 1 teaspoon coriander powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon garam masala powder
  • 1 pinch hing (asafetida)

Extra Tempering: (Optional)

  • 1 tablespoon ghee (or oil)
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin (jeera)
  • 1 teaspoon garlic (minced)
  • 1 pinch red chilli powder

Method

Preparation:

  1. Soak the chana dal in cold water for at-least 30 minutes. Drain, rinse and set aside. Chana dal takes a longer time to cook than lauki. Soaking it softens it and makes sure that both the dal and lauki are evenly cooked in the instant pot.
  2. Wash Bottle Gourd, peel the skin, dee-seed and cut into 1 inch pieces. Make sure to cut the lauki into larger chunks so they keep their shape in the dal when pressure cooked.

Instant Pot Method:

  1. Press Saute on Instant Pot. Add oil and once it’s hot add cumin seeds. Let them crackle. Add asafetida, minced ginger garlic, chopped green chili and saute for 15 secs. Then add chopped onion. Saute till onions turn light brown in color.
  2. Add tomatoes and cook till tomatoes turn soft, takes 2-3 minutes.
  3. Then add turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder, lauki, soaked lentils or dal, salt, water and give a stir. Adjust spices at this stage.
  4. Close the Instant Pot with pressure valve to Sealing. Cook on High Pressure for 8 minutes. Once the pot beeps, let it release the pressure naturally for 10 minutes (Wait until silver button on lid drops).
  5. Squeeze some lime juice, add garam masala and garnish with coriander leaves (cilantro). Mix well.
  6. Lauki Chana Dal is ready, you can also add extra tempering(tadka) and serve hot with boiled rice, quinoa or roti.

Stovetop Pressure Cooker Method:

  1. Follow the same process mentioned above for instant pot. Give 3-4 whistles on medium flame and let the pressure release naturally. All the other steps remain the same.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.