One way for Pradhan Ji (Raghubir Yadav) to keep Sachiv Ji (Jeetendra Kumar) on his side, or so he thinks, is to gift him fresh lauki or bottle gourd from his farm. With the stupendous success of the web series Panchayat Season 2, where these two play central characters, it seems that the vegetable is finally going to get its due—through memes, recipes and the #selfiewithlauki hashtag on the Internet. Recently, actress Neena Gupta, who plays Pradhan Ji’s wife, shared a quick and easy lauki bharta recipe on her Instagram handle.

Chef Meghna Kamdar, who has shared a long list of lauki recipes on her YouTube feed, Meghna’s Food Magic, says, “As kids, I remember how lauki ki sabzi invoked a look on my sister’s face. Now, I understand that doodhi as we call it in Gujarati, has so many health benefits. It helps reduce stress, keeps the heart healthy, aids weight loss and tackles sleep disorder. It helps digestion. My grandma used to tell me that it prevents premature greying of hair, too. I often make lauki soup, lauki moong chilla and even no-fry lauki kofta.”