Bottle Gourd in Milk & Coconut Gravy

Once again I am posting a bottlegourd curry. My readers might feel why bottlegourd again ?

Hmmm what do I reply...the thing is in North India we are facing acute shortage of water and electricity. The monsoons have got delayed and if the same condition persists for some more time ,the government will have to declare a drought situation ( all because of El Nino ). Because of that there is scarcity of vegetables and the prices are rocketing high even for the very basic onion and potato.



So being the homemaker it's right now my responsibility to make good food out of the vegetables available in the market. And bottlegourd seems to be seen with all the vegetable vendors. But somehow I am able to convince my family to eat it , probably they understand my plight or I might say I am a good cook :-).



When I made this curry S said there's a lot of coconut(he does not like vegetable with coconut) but the flavor (of garlic) is nice. Both the kids liked it ( they love the coconut and garlic). It's a curry with mild flavors of garlic and coconut absorbed in the milk , which gives a creamy texture to the curry. This is my father's favorite and I have learnt this from my mom who makes this quite frequently in her kitchen.




Ingredients


2 small bottle gourds - chopped

1/2 fresh coconut

3-4 garlic pods

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp turmeric

3-4 guntur red chillies

1& 1/2 tbsp coriander seeds

1/2 cup milk

oil to cook

salt to taste

asafoetida - 1/4 tsp

mustard seeds-1/2 tsp


Method

• Peel the bottle gourd.Deseed the bottle gourd if the seeds are hard and chop it.
• Grind together coarsely coconut, red chilli, cumin,coriander and garlic.
• Heat oil add mustard seeds, asfoetida and turmeric. Now add the bottlegourd and salt.
• Add milk and mix. Now cover and cook till its almost done.
• Just before removing it from the fire add the coconut mix and cook for another 2 mins.
• Serve it with hot roti or rice.