Bottle gourd in coconut milk

How many of us miss our mom's cooking? All of us, I suppose. How much ever we cook exotic dishes that taste out of the world, once in a while, you crave for that simple rice and dal mom makes. My mother is not a great cook as such, this might be because she hardly took any interest in cooking. She had a set menu which she religiously followed every day and we could easily tell what to expect for the day's lunch or dinner. When I read other blogs where they say that their mom is an inspiration to cooking, I would definitely not make that claim. But one thing I really admire about her, is how her food tastes the same every time she makes it. I've always seen that I make the same thing, but the taste differs each time. Maybe, it will come with experience.

Here I am sharing a recipe which is one of my mom's best, and one of my favorites that she makes. This is served as a side dish for the normal rice-curry-fish combo and tastes awesome in itself. I make this very frequently as it is really simple to make, provided that the cutting is done! :) So below is the recipe:

Bottle Gourd in Coconut Milk

Serves 4-5

Ingredients:

One meduim kaddu/ bottle gourd, peeled, deseeded and diced into medium sized pieces
3-4 green chilies, slit (to increase for more spice!)
A pinch of turmeric
1 cup coconut milk
Salt to taste

To temper:
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
2-3 dry chillies
Curry leaves as required

Method:

Place all the first five ingredients into a pressure cooker. Close the lid and cook it for 1 whistle, Lower the flame and leave it for 10 minutes, then switch off and allow the pressure to go by itself. Open the lid and check for seasoning and presence of more liquid. If the liquid content is high, then switch on the flame again and cook on medium-high flame till most of the liquid evaporates - not necessary to dry it up completely.

In a small saucepan, heat the oil, splutter the mustard seed, fry the dry chillies and curry leaves for half a minute and dump it into the prepared kaddu. Enjoy with your afternoon meal!!!