This is one of the common vegetables in southern parts of India. We make lots of different kinds of dishes from it. I usually make this as a side dish for rice, easy to make and it is a one pot recipe.

Here in USA, we plant it in our vegetable garden during summer and we had a good harvest this year, so I made different dishes from that. There are many varieties of bottle gourd, we tried couple of varieties in our garden. The short one shown below is from last year and the long one is from this year, but both taste the same.

Okay here is the simple recipe, I will share the another recipe later. To make this dish, I used the short variety.

Ingredients

• Bottle gourd ——————- 1 (medium size)
• Split moong dal ————- 1 handful
• Raw peanuts ——————- 1 handful
• Turmeric powder ———— 1/2 tsp
• Indian chili powder ——– 1/2 tsp
• Salt to taste
• To make a coconut paste
  • Grated coconut ——— 1 handful
  • Cumin seeds ————– 1/2 tsp
  • Garlic clove —————- 1
• For seasoning
  • Cooking oil —————— 1 tbsp
  • Mustard seeds ————- 1 tsp
  • Cumin seeds —————- 1/2 tsp
  • Dry chilies ——————— 3
  • Curry leaves —————– 1 spring

How To Make

• Peel of the bottle gourd skin and dice it into small cubes
• In a pressure cooker add the diced bottle gourd, split moong dal, raw peanuts, turmeric, chili powder and salt
• Cook it in medium heat for about 10 minutes
• Turn off the stove and wait for the pressure cooker to cool down
• Make a medium consistency paste with grated coconut, cumin seeds and garlic clove using a mixer/blender
• Open the pressure cooker and add the coconut paste, mix it well and cook for two more minutes
• Then do the seasoning with the ingredients listed for seasoning
• Now the curry is ready, enjoy it with rice