Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Lauki Bharwa' & a Readers Delite!


Ramdevji Maharaj, single handed elevated this humble vegetable Lauki (dudhi/ bottle gourd) to a celebrity status. Since he propagated the many healing properties of this simple vegetable, people have started using it in quite an aggressive manner. It sure is full of many nutritious elements and one can use it to prepare an array of dishes, right from juice to appetiser to dessert. I prepared an appetiser, Lauki Bharwa.


The stuffing for this dish is paneer and I always prefer homemade paneer for such dishes. I do like to keep a pack of store bought block of paneer in my refrigerator for the paneer dishes, but I feel the recipes which call for grated paneer always taste moist and yummy with fresh paneer.
.

To make paneer:

4 cups milk
2 tbsp lemon/lime juice
.
Bring the milk to boil, reduce flame and add lemon juice. As soon as the milk starts separating switch off flame. After the milk curdles totally, strain it and let the whey dry out. Squeeze well and paneer is ready to be used, simple isn' t it?

Now for the stuffing:
Mash the paneer, one small boiled potato, a few chopped raisins, coriander leaves, salt, red chili powder, pinch garam masala & lemon juice. You can also add 2tbsp chopped onion if you like. Add a tsp conflour to bind the mixture well.


Select one small & lean Lauki(dudhi) and peel it. Pressure cook it for one whistle with a cup of water and salt. Core and remove the insides of the gheea/dudhi. Stuff it with the prepared mix.



Heat 2tbsp oil and shallow fry the stuffed gheea on all sides till brownish. Slice into 1" circles and garnish with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Just before serving I heated them in a 350C oven for 10-12 minutes and they turned out pretty good. I served slices of stuffed Lauki with some shallow fried baby potatoes.
I adapted this recipe from Tarla Dalal, the original recipe is for Bharwa Lauki in tomato gravy, I decided to make it as an appetizer.




And now for the Readers Delite as promised. I was forwarded this and found it to be pretty interesting. Read it and let me know ;-)
.

This is weird, but interesting!
.
fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too.
.
Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.
.
i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs forwrad it

44 comments:

Sig said...

Hey, this is Siv's favorite Vegetable, he keeps bringing it home whenever he goes to the Indian store, it just sits there in the fridge till it dies mostly, sometimes he puts it in daal. Now I can give this recipe to him, he will probably stuff some meat in it :)

BTW, I could actually read that paragraph very fast...but that is how I normally type anyway and then my spellecheker takes care of the rest ;)

Coffee said...

I can read it too!!! :)

The appetizer sounds lovely!!!!! So much for healthy food!!! :) I think I must start making home made paneer..... thanks for the nudge :)

TNL said...

this is a great recipe....I used to make fresh doodhi koftas when we used to get fresh doodhi in Tampa.....anhiyan to nathi malti fresh...but will substitute zucchini and squash for this recipe.

I could read that too...interesting.

Anonymous said...

Oye I could read it too.!!!
Yes I agree the status of this humble vegetable has risen high :)
Drinking Lauki juice is now the in thing.
I liked your idea of stuffing it with paneer for an appetiser:)

FH said...

I can read that,it's just jumbled.

Lauki dish looks great.Little sauce on that would be great too.Good one:)

Richa said...

hi sig, you let the lauki wither away, need to report you to Ramdevji Maharaj, he will not be pleased ;-)
yeah i guess siv can use his fav stuffing for this.
about the para, i too read it so fast, had fun doing it. that spellcheck thing - LOL
enjoy..

Richa said...

thanks coffee, for your lovely words.
yes, making panir at home for such dishes is always better, fresh tastes so good. next time try karje
enjoy

Richa said...

hi trupti,
oh tya fresh dudhi malti nati, but ur squash idea is very good, try slicing at an angle for that.
dudhi kofta mara fav che, specially eating just the kofta he!he!
tya weather keoo che? aaiya bau varsat che
keep smiling

Richa said...

hey archana,
so are you in the "IN" crowd, dudhi juice and all, ha!ha!
i like fresh panir stuffing in so many dishes.
that para reading was cool right?
enjoy..

Richa said...

hey asha, glad you enjoyed the read and the appetiser.
yeah sure can be served as a entree by adding tomato gravy.
enjoy..

Pravs said...

oh this just looks great and for sure looks like a tasty appetizer.
But i have not seen, small and long lauki's to try this... have to keep looking i suppose.

I could read that paragraph fast too !!

Surya Hith said...

Thanks for the healthy recipe,Richa.It is a very good appetizer.

Seema Bhat said...

Lauki dish looks very appetizing and mouth watering Richa and wooo hooo I could read it too.

musical said...

Hey, i can read it :)) indeed a reader's delight.....

THats such a healthy and delicious appetizer, dear. i have a ghiya that i just bought and am going to make some paneer on the weekend: this might just be the right thing to make then.

and Sig, you totally crack me up with your last line :)).

Suma Gandlur said...

Richa,
Lovely. I have seen such stuffed recipes with capsicum and potato but not with lauki and that too with paneer.
Once my Brother in law sent such a paragraph and it was intersting to know that we can read it without any difficulty even though the spellings are all jumbled up.

bee said...

btu wsn'ta lkaui ppuloar evne bfroe rmadev mharja?

Richa said...

hey pravs, I guess whatever lauki you get shud be fine, it's not that easy to get fresh lauki in many places I heard.
anyway glad you enjoyed the writeup

hi surya hith,
yes it's pretty healthy considering the fact it uses just about 1-2 tbsp oil and that too is not entirely absorbed in the frying process. enjoy

hey seema, so you cud read it, there you go, you too got a strange mind. ha!ha!
thanks for ur generous words
enjoy

Richa said...

haanji musical ji, wknd te jaroor banana. homemade panir is so quick to make right? thot of trying something diff. tussi changi tarha masale pana, sore throat di vajah mae jyada nai paya. thuannu padhke maja aaya ;-)
keep smiling

hey suma,
i just thot of making something diff and it turned out pretty good.
glad you like my presentation.
isn't that read interesting.
thanks


YHE EEB, hwat is LKAUI, soem SLAIND in AWHIAI !!!

musical said...

Richa n' Bee:

You wiity ladies.....thanks for making my day:)

btw, Richa-just posted a Paneer dish :))

hugs,
musical.

swapna susarla said...

Hi richa
sounds interesting...
i think everybody can read the paragraph as u said..isn't it?
fun reading this..thanks for sharing..

Kajal said...

Hi Richa,
WOW................................Very very creative idea.
Good combination of lauki with paneer stuff.
Nice picture with new idea.

Thanks for sharing.:)

Sia said...

wohooo...another stuffed recipe:) how cool is that.
and i could read that paragraph very easily...

indosungod said...

Stuffed Doodhi looks aewomse. Looking at the picture thought it was sutffed potatoes, making it doodhi is indeed itnsertnig.

Richa said...

a warm welcome to my blog swapna.
glad you enjoyed the write up and the recipe.

hi kajal, lauki aney panir taney gamiu? try karje. thanks!
enjoy

Richa said...

hey sia, an endorsement from the stuff master herself, now that calls for a party, waht say??
try this one with fresh panir, it tastes so moist and yummy.
Enjoy!

thanks ISG. Yeah i served the stuffed lauki with shallow fried baby alu and the combo was pretty uinuqe!
Enjoy.

Prema Sundar said...

What a lovely and innovative appetizer Richa. First when I saw the picture I could not guess what vegetable it was.. thought it was aloo.good one richa . I have book marked it.Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe.
Hey I can read it too... very interesting.

Kribha said...

Truly unique recipe Richa. I like any dish with paneer. Good pictures too. The " reader's delight" was truly a delight. Like many others I could also read it and fast too.Very Intresting. Thanks for sharing.

Manjula said...

Paneer stufings to a dudi? Thats wonderful! I only make halwa and kheer with dudi.
You have a very new, different and interesting set of recipes here & Nice pictures too..

Richa said...

thanks prema, for your generous words.

hi kribha, glad you liked the pics and the recipe.

welcome to my blog manjula. Thanks for your lovely words, means a lot. yeah lauki kheer or halwa is very much associated with this veg.
thanks

musical said...

Richa ji,

Visakhi diyaan lakh lakh mubarkaan :)

Have a joyous time, dear.

Anonymous said...

Lauki with stuffed paneer is a good healthy appetizer...I could read those jumbled word..it was fun :-)

Richa said...

musical, thank you so much for the good wishes, really appreciate it. te' thuannu bhi bot bot mubarakaan.
keep smiling, always....

Richa said...

hey sushma,
so you enjoyed the read, it's fun isn't it.
good to know u liked the appetizer!

Viji said...

Nice presentation Richa, so creative. Could read the para well. Viji

Anonymous said...

that is a new appetizer for me and it looks good. stuffed lauki..wow!!

btw i could read that last paragraph clearly. so i am among 55 weird people too:)):))

Ranjani said...

i could read that too ! Interesting ! u have a nice site:)

Sharmi said...

waw Richa dear I could reas it so fast wirhout any problem. Its so true right? besides how do you come up with such amazing recipes. lovely dish. must be tasting great.

Bharathy said...

Hi richa ,
I visited your blog only now..Thanx for visiting mine and for the PRECIOUS comment.
You too seem to be a recent blogger...buit i was Amazed to see so much of updations..Sure you are putting 100% effort and energy into it.Wonderful illustrations...Nice pics.All the best!
P.S-paragraph reading was easy for me..I enjoyed it...

Anonymous said...

wow
luv ur site at first sight
let me try these some time :)

sunita said...

I just made a fish curry with lauki and another one is still sitting there...maybe I could use your idea...thanks...

btw, it's really amazing how fast I could read the jumbled sentences...

Richa said...

thanks viji, reena and ranjani.

thanks for ur generous words sharmi, glad u enjoyed.

welcome to my blog bharathy. thanks for ur kind words, yes i do try to update my blog often.

Richa said...

welcome to my blog ranjani, anusharaji & sunita. do visit often.
glad you enjoyed the recipes.

Anonymous said...

Richa! Bharwa lauki looks delicious!

This and this might interest you about the jumbled letters. :-D

Dee said...

cool! This is too good. Wl surely try and let u know