Bottle Gourd (Suraikaai) Curry / Kootu

Ingredients

Bottle Gourd (Suraikaai) - 1 (small)
Toor dhal / Moong dhal / Channa dhal - 1 handful
Garlic - 3 pods
Hing - 1 tsp
Green Chillies - 2 (slit lengthwise)
Onion (chopped) - 1 handful
Tomato - 1 (chopped)
Turmeric - 1/4 tbsp
Salt - To taste
Seasoning
Oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard + Urad dhal - 1/2 tbsp
Red Chillies - 2
Curry leaves - 5 Nos.

Method

1. Peel the skin of bottle gourd and cut them into bite sized cubes. (No need to remove the seeds. They will be soft and get cooked easily.)
2. Add the bottle gourd pieces, dhal, garlic, hing, green chillies, onion, tomato, turmeric and salt to a pressure cooker.
3. For curry, add water just to cover the ingredients. For kootu, add 1/2 cup less water.
4. Cook on HIGH until the first whistle.
5. Now, turn the stove onto MEDIUM heat and cook for 7 - 10 min.(We want the dhal to be well cooked and mushy but the bottle gourd pieces need to be cooked just right.)
6. Using a "matthu" mash the pressure cooker contents for about 5 sec.
7. Do the seasoning and add to the cooker.
8. Serve with white rice / chappathi / idly / dosa / paratha.

Note

1. If you have a big bottle gourd, use 1/2 or 1/3rd at a time. The remaining bottle gourd stays good in the refrigerator. This can be used another week.
2. The taste of the curry / kootu changes with the dhal used. The curry tastes best with toor dhal.
3. Bottle gourd gives a sweet taste to the curry. So add chillies accordingly.
4. While mashing the cooker contents, I take utmost care not to mash the bottle gourd pieces but the dhal alone.