Friday, January 6, 2012

Lauki Muthia / Bottle Gourd Steamed And Seasoned Cake



Bottle gourd is not a favourite vegetable of many but as it has got mild flavour, it can be disguised in many forms. One such form is muthia or steamed cake. This is a Gujarati dish which is very healthy and at the same time too delicious. My mother used to make this and this was the tastiest and healthiest recipe of bottle gourd.

My mother is very fond of gardening and she grows a number of veggies like sponge gourd, bottle gourd, okras, potatoes and even cauliflower in her kitchen garden. Bottle gourd used to grow in abundance and even after distributing some to curious neighbours we were left with plenty so much that we were almost forced to consume it every day in some form or the other. I have to admit that I was quite not happy with it at that time, but now after so many years when organic is the choice for healthy living and it being so heavily priced I miss my mummy's home grown organic bottle gourd. 



This time when I went to India for vacations I enjoyed eating home grown veggies and now appreciate its goodness. The below picture is from my mom's kitchen garden..look at the fresh bottle gourd and sponge gourd.



Ingredients:

For the Steamed Cake-

Bottle Gourd- 2 Cups grated
Gram Flour (Besan)- 1/2 Cup
Whole Wheat Flour- 1/2 Cup
Semolina- 2 Tbsps
Pearl Millet Flour (Bajra Aata)- 2 Tbsps
Corn Meal ( Makkai Aata)- 2 Tbsps
Rice Flour- 1 Tbsp
Ginger- 1 Inch Piece
Green Chillies- 2 or 3
Coriander Leaves- 2 Tbsp chopped
Turmeric Powder- 1/4 Tsp
Dry Mango Powder( Amchoor)- 1/4 Tsp or Juice of 1 lemon
Sugar- 2 Tsp
Soda- Bi- Carbonate- 1/4 Tsp
Oil- 1 Tbsp
Salt- To Taste

For Tempering-

Canola Oil- 2 Tbsp
Mustard Seeds- 1 Tsp
Cumin Seeds- 1 Tsp
Sesame- 2 Tsps
Curry Leaves- 10
Asafoetida- 2 Pinches
Lemon Juice- 1 Tsp

Coriander leaves- For Garnishing

Procedure-

  • Make a paste of ginger, green chillies and coriander leaves and keep aside.
  • Squeeze water from the bottle gourd and then add in all the flours, paste as made above and other ingredients as mentioned in the ingredients list for the steamed cake.
  • Mix everything together nicely so that a soft dough is formed. The dough will be little sticky, but if the dough is too sticky or wet then more gram flour can be added.
  • Keep the dough aside for 10-15 minutes.
  • Apply little oil in your hands and take out small portions of the dough and roll them into thick cylinder shapes. Similarly make all the cylinders. For this quantity you will get atleast 7 cylinders of about 1 1/2 inch thickness.
  • Place these cylinders in a steamer and steam them for about half an hour or till a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
  • Let the muthias cool for sometime and then cut them into round discs of about 1/2 inch thickness.
  • Prepare the tempering by adding oil in a wok and once oil gets hot add in asafoetida, mustard, cumin and once they splutter add in sesame and curry leaves. 
  • Now put in the muthias and fry them in medium flame for 4-5 minutes taking care not to over stir the muthias as they may break. Switch off the gas and garnish with coriander leaves.
  • Serve hot with coriander chutney.


I had some muthias left over after snacking. To know what I did with them stay tuned for my next post.

Sending this to my own event Veggie/Fruit A Month- Bottle Gourd which was started by Priya of Mharo Rajasthan.

Fast Food Not Fat Food Event of Priya Mahadevan hosted currently at my dear friend Priya Sreeram's space.

Walk through Memory Lane at Gayathri's space.

Vardhini's New U event.






28 comments:

  1. Wow! Muthias look so inviting. Nothing can beat home grown veggies.Thanks for linking...

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  2. One of my fav snack, Looks very tempting. Feel like eating some now. pretty clicks

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  3. Well made and I love these too. Your mom's kitchen garden is so good dear.


    FOODELICIOUS

    JANUARY EVENT, ‘ONLY’- SPROUTS & GIVEAWAY

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  4. Looks delicious..U have made it perfectly..Yummy

    Aarthi
    http://yummytummy-aarthi.blogspot.com/

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  5. aaha- good recipe raji; am just amazed at the homegrown bounty at your parent's place- nice and yes thanks for linking it to my event gal. what ahve you done with the left over - crumbled & upma is it ??

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  6. Healthy & an absolute tasty muthia!!!
    Prathima Rao
    Prats Corner

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  7. I love muthia and this looks so good. Love your Mom's kitchen garden.

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  8. Nice and healthy !! very new to me !!

    Ongoing Event - CC-Chocolate Fest

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  9. Interesting use of bottle gourd and it reminds me of kofthas. Thx for linking to the event.

    Vardhini
    Event: New "U" - Healthy Eats
    Event: Healing Foods - Cauliflower

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  10. Wow.. the pics are awesome..

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  11. I have never tried bottle gourd, but these really look and sound delicious!

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  12. wow thats looks so yummy, delicious...so appetizing!.

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  13. I love this snack. It smells of saurashtra all over it. Where did you buy Bajra aata from?

    I will have to try this for sure. Just for me.

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  14. Healthy and delicious Muthiyas..Have been wanting to try these for sometime now.

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  15. Why do I get a feeling that you would be using muthiya to make Undhiyu?? It is a MakarShankranti fav

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  16. Wat a super tempting muthias Raji..would love to finish that whole plate rite now.

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  17. The muthia look amazing Raji. I miss home grown veggies and super fresh veggies here. looks like you are going to make these yummy dishes of Lauki all this month!

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  18. very interesting and delicious recipe Raji..

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  19. Wonderful snack, looks sooo tempting!

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  20. thats a awesome plant!....
    the muthia r so tempting and irresistable!....i wouldn't be able to stay away from it!yum yummy!

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  21. @Anita- I got bajra aata from Al Adil supermarket in Dubai itself..they store a variety of aatas.

    And its neither upma nor undhiyu with the leftovers :)

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  22. the sight of fresh bottle gourd is a feast to eyes like your recipe.

    Just 1 more follower to hit double century :-)

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  23. WOW you mom does veggie gardening ! That is no nice. My dad is very interested in gardening. There are few bits of veggies too but mostly flowers:)
    Anyway this dish is a keeper my friend.I hate this particular veggie and the only way I usually cook it is by making kofta. This would be a fantastic twist !

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  24. sounds sensational & healthy..
    thanks for sharing dear..;)
    Tasty Appetite

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  25. Delicious n healthy cake,yummy!!
    First time to your space,glad to follow you :-)
    Do drop by my space when you find time..
    Erivum Puliyum

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  26. Hi, I clicked by the link of this muthia Anita Menon sent me, Nice blog and a great muthia recipe. There is so much in our regional cuisines regarding healthy food. Loved this muthia.

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  27. Very good recipe! I will try them soon. These kind of snacks are quite filling.

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