Lauki soup is a great recipe for weight loss and maintaining a healthy digestive system. This delicious lauki soup recipe is very simple to make — Just cook all the ingredients together in a pressure cooker, and then blend to smooth.
Gourd vegetables, especially Lauki (also known as Dudhi, Bottle gourd and White gourd) is amongst the healthiest vegetable. High fibre and water content makes lauki an ideal vegetable for detox and weight loss diets. In addition this simple lauki soup recipe packs in the health benefits of turmeric which is a great anti-inflammatory food and naturally boosts body’s immunity against common diseases. Turmeric is also a cancer-fighting superfood.
But Lauki is not popular amongst picky eaters specially children. As a kid, the only form in which I ate dudhi was as lauki kofta curry – deep fried grated bottle gourd dumplings. This easy bottle gourd soup is a great way of including lauki in meals, either as a side or the whole meal itself.
Especially during winters, a soup dinner night is very comforting. I have only recently started learning different soup and salad recipes — Indian as well as those inspired by our travels and the local; produce available in the various countries we live in. They are perfect for a light lunch or dinner. Starting with the humble Indian style tomato soup, I have slowly added quite a few simple, and healthy soup recipes to our meals like spinach soup, mushroom soup, red lentil soup, and many more.
Lauki Soup / Bottle Gourd Soup
Ingredients (1cup = 240ml; 1tbsp = 15ml; 1tsp = 5ml)
- 1 medium size bottle gourd ~300 gms, peeled and cut into big chunks
- 1 medium onion peeled and chopped
- 2 small tomatoes chopped
- 1 inch ginger peeled and crushed
- 2 cloves garlic peeled and crushed
- ¼ tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 1 tbsp Olive oil
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat oil in a pressure cooker. Once the oil is hot, add all the vegetables, little salt and turmeric powder. Mix well.
- Sauté for 2 minutes, add 2 cups water, close the cooker and pressure cook for 3-4 whistles. If using a open stock pot, cover and cook for about 15-20 minutes till the bottle gourd is tender.
- Remove the pressure cooker from heat and open the cooker only after all the steam has escaped on its own.
- Transfer the soup to a mixer and blend to smooth. Adjust water according to the desired consistency
- Pour into the pan, through a sieve. Season with salt, pepper and lemon juice and bring to a light boil on low flame.
- Transfer to bowls and serve hot.
Notes
- In this recipe I strained the soup for a smooth texture; but sometimes I don’t strain to keep it a bit chunky. Not straining also retains all the fibre of the lauki soup.
- You can also substitute lauki with turai or ridged gourd which is also a highly alkaline vegetable and great for both weight loss and detox.
Health Benefits of Lauki for weight loss:
Bottle gourd (Lauki/Dudhi) is low in fat and cholesterol and high in dietary fibre. Eating lauki keeps you full for a long time, helps control appetite and thus results in weight loss. Lauki is 96% water, which makes it very soothing for the stomach and easy to digest. It is highly alkaline and helps reducing acidity in the stomach. It is rich in iron, vitamin C & B complex, has sodium and potassium. It is excellent for detox and low-cal diets and highly effective against constipation and other digestive disorders.
Did you make this healthy lauki soup recipe?
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Yesterday evening, I was very hungry and wanted to have some soup.. So I did a quick short cut on the bottle gourd soup. I didn’t use any onions, garlic or ginger. Just tomatoes, spices and bottle gourd. After grinding it in a mixer, I didn’t even pass it through the sieve. As a result it was thick with a lot of fibre. It was off course different in taste from the original, but I like it this time as well! 🙂 And it took hardly 10 minutes!
Ashima did u boil lauki in cooker???
Hello Surbhi,
Yes I boiled everything together in cooker. Lauki doesn’t take long.. You may choose to use only lauki and tomato .. it will be done in 2 whistles or so..
cheers,
Ashima
thanks a lot Ashima for ur reply… 🙂
you are most welcome surbhi! 🙂 How did it turn out?
Is Cooker is necessary ?
Hello Sana,
Cooker is not necessary; you can even cook them covered in a sauce pan with some water. Cooker just makes it faster…
love,
ashima
Ashima can we drink louki sope with dinner and if it left can’t it be safe to drink remaining sope in early morning
Hello Namrata,
We often make lauki soup as our entire dinner meal. It is light and easy for dinner times. Leftover Lauki soup can also be had the next day, though not sure if it makes for a good breakfast meal. You can definitely have it as a in between meal before lunch.
I will make it for my mom …..thanks dear …..
Thanks Ankur!
Hope she likes it 🙂
Hi Ashima,
Does boiled Lauki juice useful to the blood pressure or heart patients?
Hello Prakash!
Lauki juice is an effective preventive medicine for cardiovascular diseases and also for high blood pressure.. I found a lot of websites on benefits of Bottle gourd.. Here is also a research paper published in Indian Journal of Experimental Biology that I found online http://goodnewsheartpatients.com/bottlegourdresearchpaper.pdf.
Hope that helps,
Ashima
Thank you for the recipe – a nice way to use lauki. I brought in a variation – instead of water I used some curds, that gave it a lovely smooth and thick consistency. Do try it.
Felt I could’ve added some chopped pudding leaves too – will do that the next time 🙂
Hey Malini!
Thanks so much for suggesting this twist 🙂 Lauki ka soup is one of our favorite soup recipes and the easiest one too ;p. Glad you liked it.. Will try your suggestion soon!
love,
ashima
Hi Ashmia ….very nice recipe…
suggest some more…
Thanks Prashant!
What do you want recipe suggestions on? I will be able to give suggestions if you can share maybe what course you are looking ideas for, what ingredients do you want to use.. etc..
If you are looking for more soup recipes, I have many at – https://www.myweekendkitchen.in/category/recipe/soup-salad/
love,
ashima
I will be trying it tonight..
I do have a question though.
Does having cooked bottle gourd (i.e. soup) and raw bottle gourd(i.e., juice) make any difference in terms of nutrition values?
Thank you so much for the recipe 🙂 🙂
Hello Janki,
So I have to put the disclaimer right up front that I am not a nutritionist.
Now, in my opinion, raw will surely preserve the nutrition more than cooked. Bottle gourd juice has since long been recommended for weight loss and also for diabetic patients.
Hope that helps! Would love to know how the recipe turn out to be 🙂
love,
ashima
Thanku all
I have hated lauki all my life, but my dietitian has suggested your link and it looks exciting. Waiting for my lauki day in the diet chart now 😀
Sandip,
We have recently moved to a naturopathy diet and Lauki is big in that.. I don’t hate lauki and it was always a part of our regular food but now we have actually started loving it. We even eat it raw in grated salads and it tastes amazing. I will soon start writing about our explorations into Ayurveda and share more recipes with lauki.
all the best and love,
ashima
Thanks a ton for this life saver Ashima.. The variation i tried was just boil it all with half a teaspoon of oil and later seasoned it with some cumin pepper and salt in half a teaspoon oil. I loved it!
Hey Bella,
I am so happy you found it helpful. This is one of my favourite soups and so so healthy! 🙂
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and also rating the recipe. It really encourages me!
love,
ashima
Tried this today. Tastes amazing. Added spring onions as garnish and they added a great crunch and taste. Thanks for the recipe.
Thanks, Shraddha!
Spring onions would definitely be a great addition 🙂 Thanks for the idea! I will do it to next time!
Hi Ashima, I found the recipe really simple and healthy. I topped up with a pinch of cinnamon and coriander. I thought I could add more onions to my recipe.
Thanks for sharing your experience and feedback, Kaajal!
I am so happy you found the lauki soup recipe easy and simple. I truly believe every recipe is just a starting reference point and we all should make it our own by adding a little bit here and removing a bit there 🙂 I will also try adding coriander and cinnamon on top! Have you tried with nutmeg?
Wow… loved this soup recipe… came out awesome and next day I simply replaced the Loki with pumpkin and it was equally delicious..
Can’t wait to try out all your other recipes too!!
Super grateful for the weekend kitchen!!
Thank youuuu!!!!!!
I am so glad you came across the recipe and tried it 🙂
Hi Ashima,
Loved this recipe and I did a change for soup by adding white pepper powder instead of black and pinch of pink salt. I and my family loved it! Ty for the amazing recipe!