Mahanandi is a blog with (mostly) Indian recipes and good, crisp photography. Today there is a recipe featuring my favorite Indian vegetable (technically a fruit, like all squashes): the lauki.

It's similar to a large zucchini or cucumber, but the skin is tougher and gets peeled. What I like most about the gourd is its versatility.

Lauki has a very mild flavor — it's mostly used for texture and substance — but works well in a very wide range of dishes. You can mix it in with a fish curry, stir it into a daal (lentil stew) or cook it by itself as they did here. It works well with a variety of spice combinations.

And it's also pretty durable and really inexpensive, so you shouldn't be afraid to experiment with it.

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