Bottle gourd Kootu/Sorakkai kootu

Kootu is a South Indian dish made of vegetables and lentils. Kootu pairs well with any thogayal. You do not have to prepare rasam or samber. This kootu is very simple, easy to prepare and is also very healthy and light. It needs no oil except for seasoning.  It can be had with rice, roti/phulkas and chapati. Today we will learn how to make sorakkai kootu following this easy recipe.

Sorakkai Kootu-Bottle Gourd Kootu


 Prep Time : 10 mins

Cook Time : 15 mins
Serves: 4
Recipe Category: Side Dish
Recipe Cuisine: South Indian-Tamil Brahmin
Author:

   Ingredients needed

   Bottle gourd -Cubed 3 cups full
   Moong dal/pasi paruppu -3 tbsp
   Sambar powder – 1 1/2 tsp
   Salt as required

   For Grinding (raw)

   Grated Coconut -2 tbsp
   Cumin seeds/Jeera -1 tsp
   Fried gram/chutney kadalai – 1/2 tbsp

   For the seasoning

   Mustard seeds-1/2 tsp
   Urad dal – 1/2 tsp
   Red chilli -1
   Asafoetida/hing – a pinch
   Curry leaves -little

Preparation 


Peel the skin, scoop out the seeds and chop the bottle gourd into cubes.

Grind coconut, cumin seeds and fried gram to a smooth paste. Fried gram is used for thickening. You can also use 3/4 tsp of rice flour instead of fried gram.

Method 


In a pressure pan, add the chopped bottle gourd, salt, sambar powder, moong dal, needed water and pressure cook for 2 whistles.

Add the ground paste and simmer for a few minutes.

Heat 1 tsp of oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters, add urad dal, red chilli, hing and curry leaves. When dal turns golden brown, pour the seasoning over the kootu.

Serve hot with rice or chappati or roti.

Note

Instead of moong dal/pasi parupu, tur dal or mixture of tur dal (1 tbsp) + moong dal (2 tbsp) can be used. In that case tur dal has to be pressure cooked separately. Some prefer to cook bottle gourd separately in water. You can do that also but I have given an easier version using the pressure pan.

Variation

In this method, bengal gram is used along with the other dals and grinding is not required. After cooking the bottlegourd separately in water, add the pressure cooked dal (moong dal -2 tbsp, tur dal 1 tsp, bengal gram dal -2 tsp) and grated coconut. Boil for a few minutes on medium flame and then season it with the ingredients given under seasoning.

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View Comments (34)

  • lovely recipe,absolutely fabulous...never tasted bottle guard before.i am making this for for the first time and it came out well...THANK U GAL FOR THIS...waiting for more from u..go girl go...GOD BLESS U

  • just came across your blog.. need recipes for my Father in law who is visiting.. Your blog is soooooooooooooo super helpful.. I know a few already.. but there are tons of things I didn't know and am gonna try and do loads from here.. thanks so much for this super super work

  • Really enjoy your receipes. I was raised in the US but long for the traditional south Indian receipes which I get from your blog. My daughter enjoys your carvings.

  • Your recipes are too good. Awesome decoration with each dish. I wonder how do you find time. It is beyond words.....tooooooooooooo good.

  • Hi Padma/Padhu, wud like to try out your sorakkai kootu recipe, just have one question, wud appreciate your clarification on it. Is fried gram what is also known as roasted bengal gram or phutnal pappu? If not should I just fry some chana dal in a bit of oil? Will let you know how the dish turned out once I try it. The veg carving looks good!

  • Yes, fried gram is roasted gram dal. It is known as pottu kadalai in tamil and pacchi senaga pappu or putanalu pappu in telugu

  • Your recipes are too good and I like your innovations. You are so versatile and am looking forward for many recipes.