Tried & Tasted: Lauki ka Galawat and other bottle gourd delicacies

Summer vegetables are much-maligned folks. When it comes to getting a bad press, they are on top of the class. Vegetables like bottle gourd evoke disgust. They are bland and end up getting cooked into dishes that anyone would gladly avoid. We visited the Lauki Special Festival at New Delhi's Le Meridien to find out what was on their menu. The boring 'lauki' managed to surprise us with some delectable bottle gourd preparations including a starter, main course and a dessert. Because the poor lauki has no taste of its own, it works well when given a twist, or when paired with sharp ingredients as was the case with the three dishes that we tried: 'lauki ka galawat', Lau Chingri and Lauki ka Halwa