As usual, you start by washing your vegetables. Wash the bottle gourd properly and cut off a small piece on both sides. Peel it and finally grate it into fine stripes.

Pour 50ml of water into a pot together with the ghiya stripes, put a lid on top and bring it to a boil. Let it boil for about five minutes. Once you see that the bottle gourd is soft, you can take the pot off the stove and let it cool down as it is.

While the lauki is getting cool, you can prepare the remaining ingredients. Put the yoghurt into a bowl together with the remaining water and blend it with a hand blender so that it gets slightly foamy.

Put the cumin seeds into a non-stick pan without any oil or fat, heat them up and roast them until they have changed their colour and spread their delicious smell in your kitchen. Take them off the stove.

Pick the coriander leaves off the stems and make a paste out of them in the blender.

By this time, the bottle gourd should be cool and you can add it into the yoghurt, along with any water that is still in the pot. Mix it well and add the cumin seeds, the black salt, regular salt as well as the coriander paste into the raita to complete it. Lauki ka Raita – delicious with bread, rice or as a side dish to a full meal!