Picky kids refuse lauki, mother turns vegetable into crispy chappal-shaped pakodas

Getting picky children to eat vegetables can feel like a daily negotiation, but one mother found a rather creative workaround: turning bottle gourd into chappal-shaped pakodas and serving them up as a crispy snack.

Facebook user Hetal shared the now-viral video on her page, showing how she transformed the humble bottle gourd, also locally known as lauki, into tiny edible slippers in an attempt to make the vegetable more appealing to her children.

In the video, she first chopped the lauki into pieces before placing a paper cutout shaped like a chappal over them to trace the outline. She then carefully cut each piece into the slipper shape and used toothpicks along with strips of bottle gourd peel to create the straps.

Once the vegetable chappals were ready, she prepared a batter by mixing besan with spices and water. She dipped each lauki chappal into the batter before frying them until they turned golden and crisp.

The finished pakodas were then arranged on a plate and served with ketchup, making the vegetable snack look surprisingly close to a plate of miniature slippers.

Sharing the video, Hetal simply captioned it, “Sandal Shaped Lauki/bottle gourd bhajiya.”

The unusual idea had viewers divided between appreciating the creativity and joking about the slipper-shaped food.

While one person suggested that something other than slippers could have been made, another loved the idea as a way to get picky children to eat lauki.

Someone else jokingly remarked that the desire to eat slippers had apparently become very strong.- EndsPublished By: Yashna TalwarPublished On: Sep 24, 2026 17:06 IST