Sorekai (Bottle Gourd) Chutney

Off all the veggies , don know why dad always eyes the big ugly Sorekai/Bottle Gourd/Calabash. If he goes grocery shopping he's sure to carry this huge thing home and pester me to make something out of it. I HATE this veggie and had sworn never to learn anything nor eat it, if i had a choice. Appaji however mentioned he saw ppl carrying 2-3 of these and couldnt resist buying one.

Interestingly, this particular Gourd has some history behind it. It was primarily grown to make bottles or utensils by our forefathers or mothers :P (cud be becoz they disliked it like me). In parts of India, the dried, unpunctured gourd is used as a float (called surai-kuduvai in Tamil) to learn swimming in rural areas (Bhu wat do you say to this ?? we can save some money here ;-)))). The dried and cored thick outer skin has traditionally used to make musical instruments like the tanpura,veena etc. (amazing! din know this at all...) . Am nw developing a healthy respect for this veggie after all :D

If mum was here she would make a typical sorekai palya for chapati. But I wanted to try something different which is edible and surprisingly I found a recipe for sorekai chutney. Althought, i hate to admit it :P the chutney did taste good and i wanted to blog it for the benefit of Sorekai haters, if any :)

Ingredients:

• Bottle gourd - 1/2
• Garlic - 3 cloves
• Red chili dry - 3 (Depends on your spice level)
• Tomato - 1 (ripe)
• Curry leaves - 1 sprig
• Coriander leaves - 3 to 4 sprigs
• Salt - to taste
• Oil

For tampering:

• Mustard seeds and Urad dal - 1/2 teaspoon
• Curry leaves - a sprig

Recipe:

1. Remove the skin of bottle gourd and cut it into pieces. Cut Tomato into pieces. Crush the Garlic cloves and remove the skin. Keep all this aside.
   
2. Heat oil in a pan. Add Red chilies and crushed Garlic cloves, fry till garlic turns into golden brown.
3. Add Bottle gourd pieces and fry for 3 to 5 minutes.
4. Add Tomato pieces and fry again for 3 to 5 minutes.
5. Finally add Coriander leaves, Curry leaves and Salt. Remove from heat.
6. Once it cools off, Grind this in a blender or in a food processor.
7. After grinding, do the tampering.
   
8. For tampering: Heat a teaspoon of oil in a pan. Add Mustard seeds and Urad dal. Once it splutters, add curry leaves and fry for 30 seconds. Pour this mix to the ground chutney or Pour the ground chutney to this tampering mix.