Ashgourd Kootu Recipe
Ingredients
- Ashgourd small sized - Half
- Pigeon pea lentils- 1/4 cup
- Fresh grated coconut- 1/2 cup
- Green chillies- 2 nos.
- Cumin seeds- 1/2 tsp
- Salt- 1 tsp
- Tamarind- Small marble sized
- Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
To temper
- Cooking oil- 2 tsp
- Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
- Split blackgram lentils- 1 tsp
- Broken red chillies- 1 no.
- Curry leaves- Few
Instructions
Preparation
- Peel off the ashgourd, scoop out all the seeds and cube the kernel in to medium cubes. Measure 2 cups of pieces and keep aside.
- Pressure cook the pigeon pea lentils with enough water till it turns soft. Keep aside once done.
Method
- In a cooking pan add the ashgourd cubes, 1 cup of water, turmeric powder and cook in medium flame. The ashgourd cubes will turn soft and tender in 5-10 minutes.
- Meanwhile take the grated coconut, tamarind, green chillies and cumin seeds in a blender/mixer and grind to fine puree. Include water as required for grinding.
- Next include the ground coconut puree and cooked lentils to the cooked ashgourd cubes. Add salt and water if required. Bring it to boil and switch off.
- Heat a tempering pan and add all the ingredients under "To temper" list. When the mustard seeds sizzle, pour it over the kootu. Ashgourd kootu is ready to serve with rice.
Notes
- The ashgourd shouldn't cooked till mushy. Instead the cubes should be soft holding their shape.
- You can use tamarind while grinding or use it's water to cook the ashgourd cubes. Either way it's same.
- As green chilly is the only source of spice here, use it in bit more quantity. Otherwise kootu tastes bland.