Saturday, September 29, 2018

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.

Dudhi Molagootal, Surakkai Mulakushyam


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.


Doodhi Molagootal, Bottlegourd Mulakushyam

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.

Lauki Molagootal, Kerala Doodhi Molagootal

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.

molagootal

18 comments:

Rafeeda AR said... Reply To This Comment

This is more of a Palakkadan special that I would love to try! I always wonder what bottlegourd is called in Malayalam... hehe... lovely bowl...

Priya Iyer said... Reply To This Comment

Who would have thought the humble bottle gourd could look so beautiful? Lovely recipe and wonderful presentation. :)

Shobha said... Reply To This Comment

The curry looks really yummy and inviting.. I prefer cooking doodhi like this only.with the addition of dal.

Vidya Narayan said... Reply To This Comment

I have been a big fan of molagutal since childhood. This is a Palakkad Iyer speciality and very similar to thick Kootus with exceptions in some spices. Adding Doodhi makes it all the more healthy.

THE FOOD SAMARITAN. said... Reply To This Comment

Just loved this! I love Molagootal as it brings back nostalgic times from childhood! Marvellous!

Archana said... Reply To This Comment

Wow Priya this is delicious. I love the use of bottlegourd.

Priya (https://www.at200deg.com/) said... Reply To This Comment

beautiful looking bottle gaurd cuury and did you know this vegetable is easy on the stomach

Sujata Roy said... Reply To This Comment

Loved your dish and pictures. I can feel the aroma of roasted spices. Not only healthy dal sounds superbly delicious. Awesome share.

cookwithrenu said... Reply To This Comment

We do make this but with chana Dal. Your version looks yummy and delicious. Would love to try this combo.

Anu said... Reply To This Comment

looks delicious.. I always prefer to make bottlegourd this way.

Poornimacookbook said... Reply To This Comment

Healthy dhal recipe. This dish resembles our tamil style poricha kootu.

Mayuri Patel said... Reply To This Comment

Its amazing how two basic ingredients like bottle gourd and moong dal can result in so many different variations of curries. I had not heard of this delicious and tempting curry that you've made, but then that's what blogging teaches us, about new dishes from different areas.

Kalyani said... Reply To This Comment

I love Molagootal from the Palakkad Chamayal kitchens.. they are so flavourful. we make it with snakegourd or chowchow .. but doodhi is a great choice too !

Aruna said... Reply To This Comment

Would have never thought of Dudhi Moolagootal, but then when I saw your recipe I can see that it comes together perfectly.

jayashree said... Reply To This Comment

Never tried it this way, but it looks so flavoursome and easy to make. Thanks for sharing.

mildly indian said... Reply To This Comment

You have brought such a classic tambhram recipe to life. I love the way you have swapped to bottle gourd, I have been trying to experiment with it too, as i do not get the wintermelon.

Poonam Bachhav said... Reply To This Comment

I do make chana dal with bottle gourd in a simlsim way but never tried with mung dal. Loved the addition of freshly prepared spice mix also in this curry. Will surely give this recipe a try. Thanks for the share.

Sujata Shukla said... Reply To This Comment

What a lovely use of the secret ingredients of turmeric and pepper! I love the way you have made this typical Kerala dish, but with bottle gourd which I would not have immediately thought of for mologootal. Looks very tasty with the flavour brought in by the roasted spices!