Gheeya Makhanwala ( bottlegurd in creamy gravy)

I am in a packing mode as I am off for a holiday to Nepal with 'S' . It's a well deserved break for both of us. I am looking forward to all the fun , excitement and spending lots of time with him. Basically its time to rejuvenate and unwind myself. So my next post will be by the month end.

The last few days have been clearing up whatever was left in the refrigerator . Today I was left with a small bottle gourd , a few tomatoes in the refrigerator. Now 'S' is not very fond of this vegetable, so I had a challenge of making him eat this vegetable, without he fussing about it.

I had read a 'Veg Makhanwala' somewhere and had a faint memory of the process....not remembering it correctly I concocted my own version. This is a mild recipe with a delectable taste, a good way to camouflage veggies like bottlegourd. Must say it was really finger licking. Got a full thumbs up from 'S'.

Ingredients

1 large onion chopped

2-3 Chinese Garlic pods

a small piece Ginger

3 tomatoes

1/2 tsp freshly crushed pepper

1 tsp red chilli pwd

1 tsp kashmiri red chilli pwd

a pinch of turmeric pwd

1 tbsp coriander pwd

2 tbsp chopped coriander

ghee for cooking about 2 tbsp

2-3 tbsp fresh cream ( I used low fat )

1 small spoon cumin seeds

1 small bottle gourd(Gheeya, Lauki)
Spices

2-3 cloves

2 green cardamom

a small piece of cinnamon

a bayleaf

Method

• 
  
  Peel the bottle gourd and chop it into large pieces.
• 
  
  In a pressure cooker keep bottle gourd in a container, in another container keep onion,ginger and garlic. Pressure cook till 2 whistles.
• 
  
  Make tomato concasse .
• 
  
  Grind the onion mix and bottle gourd separately.
• 
  
  Heat ghee in a pan and add cumin seeds. After they splutter add the spices.Then add boiled onion and tomato concasse.
• 
  
  Saute for a minute and add red chilli pwds, corriander pwd, salt , pepper pwd and turmeric. Let the ghee separate, add bottle gourd paste and mix.
• 
  
  Add chopped coriander , mix and cover. Cook for about 5 mins or till the curry thickens and ghee separates, on low flame.
• 
  
  Add 2 tbsp cream mix and switch off flame.