Doodhi Molagootal/Bottlegourd Molagootal

A balancing meal calls always for rice, dal and some side dishes, and obviously being a South Indian i cant give up rice for any reason. I usually make different dals or gravies to have with rice especially during weekends as i dont carry my lunch to work. Obviously i plan everything to make some rice based dishes during weekends. And here comes a super easy, protein rich Kerala dal based curry aka molagootal. Actually molagootal resembles quite like Tamilian's kootu, which calls for couple of vegetables and dal. Both when cooked together, dal and vegetables are mashed and served with tempering and spices. Molagootal calls  most of the ingredients almost like kootu, though a coconut based spice paste is added to bring a nice aroma to this Kerala dish. Molagootal is a well known dish in Palakad. Molagootal can also called as mulakushyam in many places. However both dishes are the same and the name varies from place to place.

After Karnataka, we are taking you all virtually to Kerala, yes for this month's  Shh Cooking Secretly, a monthly event started by me, which is now hosted by Mayuri Patel, we are cooking from Kerala cuisine. We are exploring each regions of India and we fellow bloggers shares secretly our ingredients to cook a dish which will be mysterious ingredients for others and the best part is to guess the ingredients. We have loads of fun, dont forget to ping me if you want to join this group. I have been paired with Sujata Shukla of PepperonPizza check what she cooked with her secret ingredients here. Dont forget to go through her space and you will definitely drool over all her dishes, she have blogged till now. Sujata and myself shared secretly our ingredients and i went for molagootal as Sujata suggested me turmeric powder and pepper. Since i want to blog about Molagootal in my space, i happily finished cooking this easy breezy dish to serve for our weekend lunch. Quite an easy, comforting dish to prepare with any sort of vegetables of your choice.

Recipe Source: Priyas Flavors
2cups Bottlegourd (peeled & cubed)
1/4cup Moongdal
2tbsp Urad dal
1/2tsp Black peppercorns
1/4tsp Cumin seeds
1/4cup Grated coconut
1 Red chilly

Tempering:
1/2tsp Mustard seeds
1/2tsp Urad dal
Few curry leaves
Asafoetida powder
Oil

Wash and soak the moongdal for 10 minutes. Now take the soaked dal,cubed bottlegourd, turmeric powder in a pressure cooker.

Add enough water and pressure cook for 3 whistles.

Meanwhile heat few drops of oil, roast the urad dal, red chilly until they turns brown.

Take this roasted dal, grated coconut, pepper and cumin seeds in a mixie jar and grind as a fine paste.

Once the pressure gets released, add this spice paste to the cooked dal-vegetable mixture, add enough salt and boil for few minutes, put off the stove.

Heat oil for tempering, let splutter the mustard seeds, add the urad dal, curry leaves, hing , once the dal turns golden brown, add the tempering immediately.

Serve hot with rice and side dish of your choice.