Sweet & Spicy Gardudde Randai / Bottle Gourd Curry.

“Sweet & Spicy Gardudde Randai / Bottle Gourd Curry” … Here is a delicious curry I tried out on a fluke using gardudde wherein I have used them with their skin on … Tastes fantastic with roti / parathas / poories … Yum Yum Yum .....

** Gardudde / Bottle Gourd / duddhi is a veggie that has lots of water content in it. It is consumed almost by every Indian in some form or the other. I have no knowledge about its medical use, so I will neither recommend nor suggest the same to anybody, but I do know that it is good for health. Facebook health topics publish a lot of health gimmicks by posting what is not certified, so I always refrain from using any vegetable as per hearsay public opinions and rely only on our age old traditions of what our ancestors followed. Mention gardudde and in my mind the picture of halwa and saar upkari are the only two dishes that pop up. Duddhi halwa is something that was prepared by and large using this veggie and we amchies also added this vegetable while preparing saar upkari ie patla bhaji with pulses. Somehow in my enthusiasm to prepare halwa during Navratri I ended up purchasing two large sized bottle gourds, but somehow due to some set backs could not do so. 

** As the festive days were now over, so was my mood to prepare the halwa. So, for a change I thought of preparing the gravy curry for the first time using this vegetable. I had prepared this vegetable many a times while preparing sambar or saar upkari but never on its own as a curry. I had once heard from my friend that she prepared sukkha bhaji grating the duddhi along with skin and knew that many a times people used the skin portion of the duddhi too. My friend once even suggested preparing chutney with the peels. Again, I have to mention here that, you just have to be careful and check that the duddhi is not bitter in taste before using the skin part. So, today’s dish was a delicious and tasty “Sweet & Spicy Gardudde Randai / Bottle Gourd Curry” with the skin on. And it was simply awesome with the crunchy skin taste. A simple curry with ingredients available readily in our kitchen that tastes great when relished with roti / chapati / poori or dosa. This dish does not go well with rice or rice dishes, so try out the given options while preparing and serving the same. 

** Here is may simple method of preparing “Sweet & Spicy Gardudde Randai / Bottle Gourd Curry” …. My style … 

** You will need one tender medium sized gardudde / bottle gourd say about 500 gms in weight for the curry. Use only tender duddhi that has not formed seeds within. Again, check and see that the peels are not bitter by removing a small piece and tasting the same. It is important to check these points before continuing with the dish, as bitter tasted ones are not good for consumption. 

** In a small bowl add a small lemon sized ball of tamarind with one cup of hot water. Cover and keep it aside. Once it has softened and cool enough squeeze it well to obtain a thick tamarind water, strain and keep it ready aside. 

** Wash the garduddhe well and wipe it clean. Now with a fork pierce the outer skin of the gardudde all round. This helps in the curry flavors to seep into the duddhi and makes it tastier. Now slice off both side edges and cut it into 1 inch sized cubes with the skin on. Do not peel off the skin. 

** Put the cut pieces in a pressure cooker pan along with the strained tamarind water and a large pinch of salt. Add in required amount of water and pressure cook on medium heat to one whistle. Remove and when cool enough and the pressure has released open and keep it ready aside. 

** Heat 2 tblsp any edible oil in a thick bottomed kadai, when hot add in 2 medium sized onions peeled and roughly chopped along with 1 inch pieces of ginger cut into small pieces and 8-10 medium sized garlic also peeled and cut to pieces. Now fry all the three together till the onions turns translucent in color. 

** Once the onions are done add in ½ tsp haldi (turmeric) powder, 2 tblsp red chilly powder, 1 tblsp coriander (dhania) powder, 1 tsp jeera (cumin) powder, 1 tblsp goda masala, 1 tsp methi (fenugreek) powder and continue frying for a minute or two on low heat. Lastly add in 2-3 tblsp of grated coconut and fry for about 5 minutes on medium heat taking care to see that you do not burn the same. 

** Remove and add the fried ingredients into the mixer grinder and grind to a very smooth paste with little bit of water. You can use the water in the cooker used for cooking the gardudde for grinding too. That is what I always do, I always used the cooked veggie or pulse water that is slightly warm for grinding the masala and it gives me a very finely ground masala. 

** Heat 1 tsp oil in kadai, when hot lower the heat to medium and add in ½ tsp of jeera (cumin seeds) and 1 tsp of mustard (sasam) seeds, when it begin to crackle add in 10-12 fresh curry leaves (karbev / kadipatta) and fry for a second, then add in the ground masala and cook till it's hot. Once the gravy is hot enough, add about approximately 50 gms of grated jaggery (goda / gud) and salt to taste, mix well and cook till the jaggery has melted. 

** Now add in the cooked gardudde / bottle gourd pieces and mix well. Check the consistency and add in only that much cooked water how much is necessary, if there is more. Do not allow the curry consistency to thin out. We need to have a thick gravy consistency. Now cover and cook on low heat till you see proper bubbles appearing on the surface. Mix the curry in between to avoid the gravy from getting burnt at the bottom. The curry is now done. Cover and keep it aside for an good hour for the flavors to seep in. 

** “Sweet & Spicy Gardudde Randai / Bottle Gourd Curry” is done and ready to be served. Serve the curry hot with chapati / roti / paratha / parota / naan or dosa / panpolo or even kori roti. It tastes best when served with any one of these. Do try out the curry and enjoy with your family and friends. Do give me a feedback on the same as it helps me to do that much more and also suggestions if any. 

** Note : You can increase the amount or decrease the amount of chilly powder, depending upon your family taste. Again you can also use Kopra / Khobre / dry coconut powder instead of freshly grated coconut, but I always use fresh coconut as I do not like the smell of the dry coconut and I feel it imparts the same to the curry. 

** Note : Goda Masala is a masala powder freely available in Mumbai market. People from Mumbai use it extensively in food preparation, so they prepare the same in bulk of 5-10 kgs as per their family requirement over the year. The ingredients are dried on sunlight during summer and sent to chakki / mill to powder the same and are stored in airtight packs. I always buy them from stores as my use of the same is not much. 

** Again, if you do not have Goda masala in your home or the same is not available to you, do not feel let down, you can use garam masala powder along with a little bit of fennel powder to the curry too. Though if you can somehow manage to buy the Goda Masala I would suggest you do so, coz. there are far too many ingredients that go into the making of it that the taste does vary. Again, you need not fear it will go wasted you can try out biryani or non-veg dishes using it in place of garam masala and you will surely love the taste. 

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