Snake/bottle Gourd with Dal

Ingredients needed

Bottle gourd - peel the skin, remove seeds and cut into cubes -4 cups
Tur dal or Split yellow moong dal -1/4 cup
Turmeric Powder - a pinch
Chillie powder -1/4 tsp (optional)

For the seasoning

Ghee or oil - 2 tsp
Mustard - 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds/Jeera seeds -1 tsp
Red chillies -1
Asafoetida/hing - a generous pinch
Green chillies -2 ( finely chopped)
Ginger -1 inch piece ( finely chopped)
Curry leaves - little

Method

Pressure cook dal with turmeric powder till soft.

Cook bottle gourd in water till soft. After it is cooked, add cooked dal , salt and chillie powder. Bring it to boil.

Heat ghee, add mustard seeds, when they splutter, add cumin seeds, asafoetida, red chillie, green chillies, ginger,curry leaves ,saute for a few seconds and add it to the bottle gourd.

Garnish with coriander leaves.

Bottle gourd dal is ready to be served.

Note -

For this recipe, you can use either tur dal or moong dal. If you are using moong dal ,then pressure cook both moong dal and bottle gourd together.

If tur dal is used, then you should cook tur dal and bottle gourd separately as tur dal takes longer time to get cooked than bottle gourd.

Tips

Soaking dal in warm water for 20 minutes before cooking helps to reduce cooking time and also saves energy.