Cook's Hideout: Sorakaya Kura

December 21, 2006

Sorakaya Kura

Personally sorakaya (bottle gourd, lauki) is not a very exciting veggie. It doesn’t fall into the category of kid’s favorite’s alu (potato) or bendakaya (okra), but rather sits along with broccoli and brussel sprouts. I remember, as a kid, eating sorakaraya kura with the least interest and telling my mom not to cook it anymore. But now, after all the years of not liking sorakaya, I started experimenting and using it more than I could imagine 10 years ago.

A little research on bottle gourd told me that is not an important source of any nutrient. The composition of 100 grams of young bottle gourd includes 20 mg calcium and 6 mg of Vitamin C. It is low is saturated fat and cholesterol and high in dietary fiber, riboflavin, zinc, thiamin, iron, magnesium and manganese.

The gourd itself doesn’t have any discernible taste, and the dish is mostly acquired taste from the spices and other ingredients put in it. I used Nagpur garam masala that my mom made (she said it has about 31 or 33 spices in it) and it gave the dish spicy kick.

Ingredients:
Sorakaya (bottle gourd)– 1 medium, peeled and cubed
Onion – 1 small
Tomato puree – 2 tbsp
Green chilies – 3
Besan – 3 tsp
Milk – ¼ cup
Water – 1 cup
Garam masala – 1 tsp
Red chili powder – ½ tsp
Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
Cumin seeds - ½ tsp
Curry leaves – 5
Salt – to taste

Method:
  • Heat 2 tsp oil in a pan, add the seeds and curry leaves, after the seeds splutter, add onions, turmeric and sauté till lightly browned.
  • Add sorakaya pieces and green chilies, cover and cook till tender.
  • When the gourd is tender, add tomato puree and cook for 1 minute.
  • Mix besan with milk into a smooth paste without lumps. Add this to the veggies with water and red chili powder. Cover and cook for 5 minutes on low flame.
  • Add garam masala and salt, cover and cook for another 2 minutes.
You might have noticed that I have started adding milk in all the dishes. The reason being, my husband doesn’t like dairy, milk/ yogurt/ buttermilk, products that are white and have a distinct milk taste. So I’m sneaking in milk into everything, so he (we) would get the necessary nutrients and calcium. Good idea.. right??

8 comments:

  1. I love those green marrows or Sorekai.I get so desperate, every summer I try grow and I hardly get one or two.
    I love the dish,prefer to add yoghurt.Thanks Pavani.

    Happy Holidays.

    ReplyDelete
  2. hai pavani

    nice recipe and a cool idea too..usually i use this idea for my daughter.she don't like milk.normally iadd yogurt to this dish.this time will try ur version.happy holidays..and a merry cristamus..

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Pavani
    Nice dish. Actually I like lauki and make it in several diff ways. This is one more to the list
    Happy Holidays

    ReplyDelete
  4. hi Pavani, i followed your recipe for 7-cup sweet, it came good, thanks a lot for sharing it with us.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hey Pavani, welcome back. Nice to see you are blogging again!

    ReplyDelete
  6. The bhaji looks really good, Pavani! Will try it sometime for sure. Am bookmarking this.
    Thx for sharing! :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm gonna try this dish for my wife, hmm already hungeeee!

    --Srini N.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi Srini, let me know how your wife liked this curry..

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for stopping by my Hideout.

I really appreciate your feedback, so please feel free to leave your comment. I read all the comments you post, but I may not respond to them. Thank you for your time and hope you enjoyed your stay.

Have a Wonderful Day!!

LinkWithin

Related Posts Widget for Blogs by LinkWithin
Blogging tips