Deccan Chronicle

The Goodness of Bottle Gourd

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Bottle gourd or lauki may often be on people’s least liked vegetables, but it can be used effectively to combine taste and health.

The humble bottle gourd also called lauki, doodhi and sorakai, is known to have health benefits that include reducing stress, being beneficial to the heart, helps in weight loss and aids digestion. The vegetable is also known to help correct sleeping disorders and prevents premature greying of hair.

Being very low in saturated fats and cholesterol, it has a high-water content which aids weight loss. It is also vitamin rich and has Iron, Folate, Magnesium, Potassium, Vitamin C, Vitamin B, Vitamin K, Vitamin A and Vitamin E.

Rajgira Lauki Paratha
Rajgira Lauki Paratha

One of the many ways it is used includes bottle gourd juice which is helpful for diabetics and has stomach cooling properties. It also helps reduce body heat or ‘pitta’ and can reduce summer problems like nose bleeding, pimples, and ulcers per Ayurveda. If you thought the vegetable is boring, these recipes are sure to change your mind.

Here are some interesting recipes:

·       Lauki Ke Sholey courtesy Chef Abhishek Uniyal at Signum CityScapes, Mohali

·       Bottle Gourd & Chocolate Travel Cake courtesy Ashis Rout, Executive Chef, The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts Gandhinagar

·       Goan Lauki Xacutti (courtesy Chef Shivank Srivastava, Food Stylist, Junction of Chefs)

·       Rajgira Lauki Paratha (courtesy Simrun Chopra, Deep Health Coach)

·       Surakkai Kola Urundai Kuzhambu, (courtesy Vinoth Kumar Jeyaprakash, Executive Sous Chef, Conrad Bengaluru)

Read the full story that first appeared in Deccan Chronicle dated March 21, 2022 here:

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