Sorekai Thovve - and a trip down memory lane
Amma used to make this dal often. Sorekayi / Sorekai (Kannada) a.k.a Lauki (Hindi) or Bottlegourd is a water AND nutrient rich vegetable. Usually we made this for a quick weekday dinner - the memories are so vivid when amma made this and we used to call this dish as 'satellite'. She would come home from work and after washing up from work, would quickly make the chapati atta for dinner, while chopping up the veggies and cooking the dal on her tiny stove and serve us this dal with hot chapatis for dinner.
My grandmom one day fed us all morsels of rice mixed with this dal, and told us stories on the terrace while we watched the stars and satellites above on a clear dark sky, and since then the name is stuck.
Today's is a super simple yet filling side dish for rice or hot rotis / phulkas Or Steamed rice. I haven't added any onion / tomato in this, but you can add as per your choice. If you like garlic-heavy dals, then check out the Lasooni Palak Dal with Zucchini which also tastes great with rice / Phulkas.
As kids we didn't like this vegetable - Bottle gourd (a.k.a Doodhi / Lauki / Lau) at all, but slowly the tastebuds grew and we started using this humble veggie in many dishes like:
- Low Fat Lauki Kofta (shallow fried bottlegourd dumplings in a creamy spicy sauce)
- Bottlegourd-lentil soup with caramelised onions
- Palak-Doodhi Muthia (Spinach-bottlegourd steamed spicy dumplings)
- Lauki Channa Dal Curry (which is made so often, but yet to blog about it) - Bottlegourd curry with bengal gram
- No ghee Gajar-Lauki Halwa (Carrot Bottlegourd sweet halwa/ pudding)
FAQs to make Sorekayi Thovve:
What can I serve with the Dal?
Steamed Basmati Rice, Hot Chapatis, would pair beautifully. The second time I made this, we had it with Jeera rice and that was a fantastic combo as well 🙂
What other veggies can be used in place of Sorekai / Bottlegourd?
Cucumber (both green or Mangalore variety), Chow chow (chayote Squash), Zucchini, Ridge gourd (Heerekayi / Peerkangai / Dodka), Snakegourd (Padvalkayi / Parwal) - basically any water based veggie works.
Can I pressure cook both veggies + dal in a pressure cooker to save time?
Yes, you can. But the water based veggies will cook faster than the dal, so will make it very mushy. We prefer the dal to have a bit to it, yet cooked for this dish
What other dal can be used for this?
You can mix masoor + moong or even channa dal (as a stand in for the moong). Toor dal generally doesn't work for this lightly flavoured Thovve
Can I add Onion-garlic to this dish?
If you prefer onion-garlic in your dishes, do add. However, we prefer it without.
Other Accompaniments with rice / Roti you may like on the blog:
Prep time - 10 mins, Cook time - 20 mins, Serves - 4
Course : Main course, Indian Served with : Indian flat breads or Steamed rice
Vegan and GF Lauki Dal (bottle gourd cooked with lentils)
Ingredients to make Sorekai Thovve:
- ½ bottle gourd, cubed (About 150 grams)
- ½ cup Split Green Gram (Moong Dal)
- ⅛ teaspoon Turmeric
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Mustard Seeds
- ¼ teaspoon Cumin Seeds (Jeera)
- 2 Red Chillies
- 1 sprig Curry leaves
- 1 green chilli (opt.)
- 1 teaspoon oil
- 1 teaspoon Coriander leaves
- 2 teaspoon Lemon juice
- 2 tablespoon Coconut (Grated - fresh / Frozen)
How to make Sorekai Thovve | Bottle gourd Dal - Karnataka Style:
- Take a tender bottle gourd / lauki / Sorekai, wash and peel the lauki, and cut into uniform 1 inch cubes. Do not cut fine as the makes the dal watery.
- Soak the moong dal for 10 mins in 1.5 cups hot water and cook in a separate pan with a dash of turmeric till it turns soft but not too mushy
- In a pan, add the oil. splutter the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, chillies and curry leaves.
- Now add the cubed bottlegourd / sorekai and saute for 1-2 mins.
- Add required salt and cook covered with ¼ cup water for 7-8 mins till soft but not mushy.
- Now add the cooked dal, adjust salt and spices.
- Finish with grated coconut. Switch off the heat and add the lemon juice.
- Mix and serve immediately with hot steamed rice and some pickle. Tastes great with hot chapatis too.
Sorekai Thovve | Bottle gourd Dal - Karnataka Style
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker or use open pot to cook dal
- Ladle
- Kadai
- Knife
- Cutting Board
Ingredients
- 150 grams Bottle Gourd Cubed
- ½ cup Split Green Gram Moong Dal
- ⅛ teaspoon Turmeric
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon Mustard Seeds
- ¼ teaspoon Cumin seeds Jeera
- 2 Dry Red Chillies
- 1 sprig Curry Leaves
- 1 Green Chillies opt.
- 1 teaspoon Oil
- 1 teaspoon Coriander leaves
- 2 teaspoon Lemon Juice
- 2 tablespoon Grated coconut fresh / Frozen
Instructions
- Take a tender bottle gourd / lauki / Sorekai, wash and peel the lauki, and cut into uniform 1 inch cubes. Do not cut fine as the makes the dal watery.
- Soak the moong dal for 10 mins in 1.5 cups hot water and cook in a separate pan with a dash of turmeric till it turns soft but not too mushy
- In a pan, add the oil. splutter the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, chillies and curry leaves.
- Now add the cubed bottlegourd / sorekai and saute for 1-2 mins.
- Add required salt and cook covered with ¼ cup water for 7-8 mins till soft but not mushy.
- Now add the cooked dal, adjust salt and spices.
- Finish with grated coconut. Switch off the heat and add the lemon juice.
- Mix and serve immediately with hot steamed rice and some pickle. Tastes great with hot chapatis too.
Mayuri Patel says
I like bottle gourd. Usually I make a sabji with it using potato or chana dal. Like this idea of adding it to a dal. Have to make sorekai thovve as soon as get some bottle gourd.
Kalyani says
Thanks Mayuri. Do try it when possible - am sure you would love the thovve.
Priya Vj says
Amma made sorekkai dal the same way and I have loved it from the childhood ..the same way she would use ridge gourd too . The addition of thengai brought back fond memories of amma. This thovve tastes yumm with hot fulkas ...
Kalyani says
Yes, we use all gourds (esp heerekayi and chow chow as substitutes). coconut illame thaligeya ? Lol!
Jayashree T Rao says
Sorrekai Thavvi is a good way to include the vegetable for my family. We usually make it with ridge gours.
Kalyani says
yes we too make it with ridgegourd sometimes!