Bottle Gourd - The Indian Marrow

Not really heard of in the west, though Dudhi or Lauki as it's known in south Asia has increasingly become more and more popular in Indian cooking in recent years. Bottle gourd, which originated from Africa, though grown mostly in India now, has known to be one of the earliest vegetables cultivated by man. It has several number of medicinal values and I have a few customers who extract the juice to drink in order to treat liver and digestive disorders, blood pressure and even greying hair.

I call it the Indian marrow,  for it's inside texture and the high water content. The bottle gourd is found in various sizes and lengths, often the thick skin is peeled away and only the inside flesh is used in various dishes from semi dry curries, dalls and Indian sweets. Two examples of dishes that use bottle gourd below:

Handvo (Ondhaw) My dad's version of this favourite Gujrati spicy cake. Grated bottle gourd is
mixed with lentil flour, rice flour, garlic, ginger, chillies, spices and yogurt. The mixture is then poured into a roasting tray, oil is poured over with the sprinkle of sesame seeds and then placed into a low heated oven for an hour and a half.

Dudhi Chana (Split Bengal Gram & Bottle Gourd Dall)