Lauki Whole Moong Curry

Today, I decided to make a gravy with bottle gourd. As I wrote before, I have been including bottle gourd in gravies as substitute veggie. For the first time, I cooked with kokum. I liked the subtle tanginess of kokum. I was hesistant to add more kokum since I did not have much idea about the sourness level of this.

You need

• Bottle gourd/Lauki/Sorakkai - cubed, around 1 cup
• Cooked whole moong - 1 cup
• Kokum rind - 1 whole
• Coriander powder - 2 tspn
• Red chilli powder - 1 tspn
• Salt to taste
• tumeric - 1/4 tspn
• Hing 1/4 tspn
• Tomato - 1 no, grated

Tempering

• Oil - 1 tspn
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tspn
• Urad dal - 1/2 tspn
• Red chilli - 2nos, broken into two

• Curry leaves
• Coriander leaves

Method

Pressure cook whole moong till it is cooked and not too mushy. Peel, de-seed the bottle gourd. Cut the gourd into bite sized cubes. Take the chopped gourd in a vessel. Add two cups of water. Add turmeric, salt, red chilly powder, coriander powder and kokum. When the veggie is cooked, add the cooked whole moong.  Grate a tomato and add to the cooking gravy. I added tomato to give a body to the gravy.Simmer for few minutes. Add curry leaves and coriander leaves.

Heat oil in a seasoning ladle and add the tempering ingredients. When the mustard seeds crackle and urad dal starts browning, tip it to the gravy. 

The gravy is not very thick. If you want it to make it slightly thicker, add a teaspoon of rice flour to half cup of water and mix well. Add this to the gravy when it starts simmering.  I did not add this. The gravy was not too thin like rasam. 

Check out what my fellow marathoners are cooking today.