Name: Punjabi Lauki Wadi Ki Sabzi
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: 250 g Bottle Gourd, lauki/ghiya, peeled and cubed; ¼ cup Amritsari Wadi, spicy urad dal dumplings, broken into chunks; ½ Onion, finely chopped; 1 Tomato, roughly chopped or pureed; ½ tsp Ginger-Garlic Paste; ½ Green Chili Pepper, slit; ½ tsp Cumin Seeds; ¼ tsp Ground Turmeric; ½ tsp Ground Coriander; ¼ tsp Kashmiri Chili Powder, wadi is already very spicy; ⅛ tsp Garam Masala; 1 tbsp Mustard Oil, or regular cooking oil; ½ tsp Salt, to taste; ¾ cup Water, wadiyan absorb water to soften; 1 tbsp Coriander Leaves, chopped

45 mintotal

35 min hands-on10 min hands-off

Prep 10 min · Cook 25 min

Serves: 2
Difficulty: Medium
Spice: Spicy

Add to your week

Method

Heat the mustard oil in a pressure cooker until it smokes gently. Lower the heat.
Drop the broken wadiyan pieces into the oil. Fry them continuously on low-medium heat until they turn deep reddish-brown. Remove them and set aside.
In the same oil, add cumin seeds and let them crackle.
Add the finely chopped onions. Fry until they turn a light golden brown.
Add ginger-garlic paste and slit green chilli. Sauté for 1 minute.
1 min
Add the chopped tomatoes, turmeric, coriander powder, Kashmiri chilli powder, and salt. Cook until the tomatoes turn mushy and oil separates.
Add the cubed bottle gourd (lauki) and the fried wadiyan to the cooker. Toss well to coat them in the masala.
Pour in the measured water. Stir well and close the pressure cooker lid.
Pressure cook on medium heat for 3 whistles. (Wadiyan need pressure cooking to become soft, and lauki will melt beautifully into the gravy).
Let the pressure release naturally. Open the lid, sprinkle garam masala and fresh coriander. Stir gently and serve.

How to tell it's done

Spongy, spicy wadi chunks floating in a deeply flavorful, soupy broth alongside melt-in-the-mouth pieces of bottle gourd.

Getting it right

Tip

Lauki is bland and Wadiyan are explosively spicy. Combining them in a pressure cooker allows the lauki to absorb all the robust, spicy flavors of the lentil dumplings, creating a perfectly balanced dish.

What to serve it with

A heartwarming, rustic Punjabi home-style meal. Best eaten with hot Rotis or Parathas.

Rajasthani Pyaaz Tamatar Ki Sabzi

Pyaaz tamatar ki sabzi cooks onion and tomato down together into a Rajasthani sabzi that needs nothing else.

30 minvegetarian

Rajasthani Safed Maas

Safed maas is the white counterpart to laal maas, goat cooked in yoghurt and cashew with no chilli colour at all.

3 hr 35 minnon vegetarian

Rajgira Kadhi

Rajgira kadhi thickens a yoghurt kadhi with amaranth flour instead of gram flour, so it can be eaten while fasting.

25 minvegetarian

Rasedar Aloo Baingan

Rasedar aloo baingan keeps potato and aubergine in a thin, soupy gravy rather than cooking them dry.

40 minvegan

Rui Machher Jhol

Rui macher jhol is a light Bengali rohu curry with potato, nigella seeds and green chilli in a thin broth.

55 minpescatarian

Sarson Ka Saag

Sarson ka saag simmers mustard leaves with spinach and bathua for hours, then mashes them into a thick, faintly bitter dish.

1 hr 35 minvegetarian

Ingredients