BOTTLE GOURD (LAUKI) BEETROOT RICE

HHello everyone 

Bottle gourd (lauki) is a vegetable, which is hated by many of kids and elders too. Though I love lauki but have above category members in my house too 😊 i.e. my kids. So always tried to feed them this veggie by making lauki halwa, plain lauki , lauki in gravy but all are just one time wonders and eaten with frowned faces. But today I tried to make a one pot meal with this unwanted veggie with a healthy touch of beetroot in it to make it even more healthier. And to my surprise it came out super delicious without too much fuss and effort, and the main thing is my fussy eaters too loved it.

I just like to thank one of my friend , who introduced me to her MIL's traditional recipe of lauki rice which inspired me to try this combo in my ways. So a big thanks to you Kavi, Kavita Maurya .

It is so healthy and easy recipe that anyone can try without fail, at the same time super yummy too. You should must give it a try if you too have fussy eaters like mine, believe me you will never regret.

Stepwise recipe is given below, hope you will like it and definitely try too.

BOTTLE GOURD( LAUKI) BEETROOT RICE

Serves: 3-4

Time: 45 mins

Ingredients 

2 cup grated bottle gourd (lauki)

1 1/2 cup rice (preferably basmati or old variety)

1 medium beetroot, thinly sliced

1 medium onion, finely chopped  

1 1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste 

2-3 green chillies, slitted 

8-10 cashews, broken in half ( lengthwise)

1 tsp ghee or butter

1 1/2 tsp oil

1/2 lemon

Salt to taste

For tempering:

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

2 cloves

2 green cardamom 

1/2 inch piece cinnamon stick

3-4 whole dry red chillies 

Method:

First of all wash rice and soak it in 1 cup water for 20 mins. 

Meanwhile boil beetroot with at least 3 cups of water, till tender. We will need this water for cooking rice.

Now Heat ghee and oil in a thick bottomed vessel, add cashews and fry till little golden and keep it aside for later use.

 Now add all spices of tempering section in the same oil and saute till everything crackled and become aromatic. Be careful while sautéing so not to burn spices. Now add green chillies and chopped onions, saute till nice golden then add ginger garlic paste and saute for 2 mins. 

Add grated lauki and cook on high flame stirring occasionally till its water gets evaporated and it become nice dry lump. Now add rice and fry for 2-3 mins .

Then add remaining water of rice and 2 cups of beetroot stock. Add salt and squeeze juice of 1/2 lemon in it. Let it cook at high flame, when it starts looking little dry on top then lower the flame and cover with lid. Let it simmer for 5 mins. Then switch of the flame.

 Let it sit for 5- 10 mins covered, then open the lid and add fried cashews to it and mix with light hand gently. Again rest it for 10 mins then serve.

 Your easy, yummy and super healthy rice is ready to be served with gravy dish or with simple raita. It taste best even if taken as it is, it doesn't need any thing else to go with. A simple one pot meal loved by everyone.

I soaked rice in exact 1 cup of water to spare me with any indecision of how much water to be added for cooking rice. As we know 2:1 water rice ratio is needed to cook nice fluffy rice, but when we soak it then it already absorb some water and then our ratio gets disturb. So avoid this situation I soaked in exact amount of water and then used the same in cooking too. This will ensure you to get nicely cooked fluffy rice. 

If you don't want to add beetroot stock then add plain water in same amount, and can also add 1/4 tsp of turmeric powder while adding ginger garlic paste if not using beetroot stock, to give nice golden color to your rice.

Hope you all will like this super healthy and yummy rice dish, so please drop down your valuable comments and suggestions, they meant a lot to me.

Happy cooking....