Lauki Chana Dal is a simple nutritious curry made with bottle gourd and bengal gram lentils. This is a North Indian or Punjabi style preparation for this curry made in a pressure cooker. Lauki Chana Dal is perfect to enjoy with roti or rice!
There are few curries that combine the goodness of both lentils and vegetables. This Lauki Chana Dal is one if them. Lauki Chana Dal is a perfect weekday curry that you can make in just 30 minutes in a pressure cooker or instant pot.
I always like to add veggies when making any lentils such as Spinach Dal, Kale Chana Dal and Sambar. It makes it a one-pot meal and adds so much more nutrition.
I have shared recipe for Lauki Curry & Chana Dal made in a pressure cooker before. Do check them out!
What is Lauki?
Lauki is the Hindi name for Bottle Gourd, which is a popular vegetable in many countries. Here are a few names I could find for bottle gourd:
- Bottle Gourd (the obvious)
- Cucuzza (the Italian name)
- Opo Squash or Opu Squash (the Asian name)
- Calabash (another Asian name)
- Lauki (the Indian name)
- Dudhi (another Indian name)
- Ghiya (another Indian name)
- Sorakaya (another Indian name)
- Long Melon
I am always amazed to find the similarities in cooking in various countries. Don’t forget to check out the Lauki Curry recipe made in the pressure cooker.
Health Benefits of Lauki & Chana Dal
Bottle Gourd has high fiber content, and helps cure acidity, indigestion and constipation. Chana dal (also known as split chickpeas or bengal gram) is good for diabetics due to its low glycemic index. It is also rich in protein, which makes it a great addition to a vegetarian diet.
How to make Lauki Chana Dal in Pressure Cooker?
- One pre-step for this recipe is soaking the chana dal for 30 minutes or up to 2 hours. This is required as Chana Dal takes longer to cook compared to lauki.
- Now let’s start with preparing the ingredients. We need very basic ingredients such as onions, tomatoes, ginger, garlic and spices for this curry. We want to cut the lauki into a bit large pieces, so that they cook well with the dal and do not turn to mush.
- We will start with heating the pressure cooker or instant pot on sauté mode. Add oil and cumin seeds. When the cumin seeds start to change color, add onions, ginger, garlic and green chillies. Saute for couple of minutes.
- Then add in the chopped tomatoes, spices and salt. Stir well.
- Now add the Chana Dal and chopped lauki. Then add water and mix it all. We add less water when cooking this curry, as lauki has high water content.
- Now we are ready to pressure cook the curry. Cook at high pressure for 8 minutes. Then do a 10 minute NPR, which means let the pressure naturally for 10 minutes, then manually release the pressure.
- If using a stovetop pressure cooker, cook on medium-high heat for 2-3 whistles.
- Add the lime juice and stir the curry. Garnish with cilantro.
Adding lime juice elevates the taste to a while new level. I highly recommend it.
We love to eat this Lauki Chana Dal with roti and a side of yogurt or raita.
Try this Lauki Chana Dal and let me know how it turned out.
If you are looking for more punjabi recipes, check out Rajma Masala, Kala Chana, Saag Paneer, Pumpkin Curry recipes on piping pot curry.
Lauki Chana Dal Recipe - Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 cup Chana Dal
- 2 cups Water for soaking
- 1 tbsp Oil
- 1 tsp Cumin seeds (Jeera)
- 1 cup Onion diced
- 1/2 tbsp Garlic minced
- 1/2 tbsp Ginger grated
- 1 Green Chili Pepper optional, adjust to taste
- 1 cup Tomato diced
- 1 medium Bottle Gourd (Lauki) cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- 1 cup Water for cooking
- 1 tbsp Lime juice
- Cilantro to garnish
Spices
- 1/2 tsp Ground Turmeric (Haldi powder)
- 1/2 tsp Red Chili powder (Mirchi powder)
- 1 tsp Coriander powder (Dhaniya powder)
- 1/2 tsp Garam Masala
- 1 tsp Salt
Instructions
- Soak Chana dal along with the water for soaking for 30 minutes. Then drain the water and keep aside.
- Start the pressure cooker in sauté mode and heat oil in it. Add cumin seeds, and sauté for 30 seconds.
- Once the cumin seeds start to change color, add the onions, garlic, ginger, green chili and sauté for 2 minutes.
- Add tomatoes and spices and stir them well. Add chana dal, lauki and water for cooking. Stir it all up. Pressure Cancel and close the lid with vent in sealing position.
- Change the electric pressure cooker setting to manual or pressure cook mode at high pressure for for 8 mins.
- If using a stovetop pressure cooker, cook on medium-high heat for 2-3 whistles.
- After the pressure cooking is done, let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes, then release the pressure manually. Add lime juice and give a good stir.
- Garnish with cilantro and enjoy Lauki Chana Dal with roti or rice.
Notes
Note: Nutrition values are my best estimates. If you rely on them for your diet, use your preferred nutrition calculator.
We really loved this recipe. I had to substitute split yellow lentils (which cooked perfectly in that time frame) because that’s all I had on hand. And added potatoes and spinach because I wanted to use them up. I also had a huge cucuzza/lauki (5 feet long) I was afraid it would be tough but I pared and deseeded it and the pressure cooker made it tender. Thank you for the inspiration! (Accidentally left these comments on another recipe for lauki! My apologies!)
This recipe was perfect.
Hey Marisa – Glad to hear you enjoyed the curry!
hello my instant pot doesn’t have manual setting button how do I cook this Lauki chana dal? please help 🙁
Hey Sweete – Use the “pressure cook” option, it is the same as manual in newer versions off instant pot. Hope you enjoy the curry!
thank you for your help.. I will the “pressure cook” option as you stated and see how it turns out!!.. thank you so much for your help again:)