Snake Gourd Curry/Kootu/Dal
Snake Gourd Curry is no onion and garlic recipe and snake gourd is low-calorie veggie and perfect for weight watchers and this very simple snake gourd curry is very good for one’s stomach as its very light cumin and coconut flavoured snake gourd curry, which is a lovely combination. When we think of preparing a south Indian curry/kootu, vegetable, dal and coconut are an integral part of the curry/kootu.
Its simple and easy dish to prepare, accompanied by rice. It’s a delicious alternative to sambar packed with all the vitamins and proteins required for our daily diet. This recipe is made in a couple of different ways some use Sambar powder and Tuvar dal, here in this recipe we have used moong dal and peppercorns and green chilli as a spice, one can use tuvar dal/pigeon peas instead of moong dal.
Snake Gourd Curry/Kootu/Dal
Ingredients
- 2 ½ Cups Chopped Snake Gourd
- 1/4 cup Moong Dal
- ½ Tsp Turmeric Powder
- 1 Tsp Urad Dal
- ½ Tsp Mustard Seeds
- ½ Tsp Cumin Seeds
- 1 nos Dried Red Chilly broken into halves
- 10 nos Curry Leaves
- ¼ tsp Asafoetida
To Grind
- 1 nos Green Chilly
- ¼ cup Grated Coconut
- ½ tsp Peppercorns
- 1 tsp Cumin Seeds
Instructions
How to Make Snake Gourd Curry/Kootu …..?
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Start with washing snake gourd, cut and remove the spongy part along with seeds. Cut them into squares or rectangle pieces.
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Cook the moong dal in a pressure cooker along with some salt and turmeric powder, pressure cook it for 2 whistles
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While the dal is cooking away, grind coconut, cumin, coriander seeds and green chilli in the mixer into a smooth paste. If required add water and keep it aside.
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Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan, add mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Once it splutters, add red chilli, asafoetida sauté and it for a minute, add the chopped snake gourd along add water to it and cook till the snake gourd is cooked and tad bit soft.
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Now add the cooked dal from cooker after the pressure releases. Stir well and add little water if required.
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Now, add the coconut mixture/paste and stir well and cook in low flame for 5 minutes until it totally cooked.
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Once done, remove from flame and garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot to rice adding ghee.
Recipe Notes
- Take care that the snake gourd does not overcook as it is soft and gets too soft and mushy.
- One can pressure cook the snake gourd too, but always has the risk of getting overcooked.
- The quantity of green chilli can be adjusted to one requirement.
- Normally in many recipes tamarind is added as a souring agent, one can add (marble sized) if required to this recipe, one has soak tamarind in water and squeeze out the juice and throw the pulp out.
Serve the curry with plain white rice.
I don’t think I can even get snake gourd where I live! I’ll admit I’ve never had it and don’t even know what some of those ingredients are, but Im’ sooo curious to know what this dish tastes like!
xo Chelsea | https://completelychelsea.com
These in ingredients are mostly Indian spices, and very commonly found in any Indian store nearby, if you have any in your neighborhood. You could substitute the veggie with any other veggie like bottle gourd or pumpkin.
This looks like an interesting dish! If the ingredients were readily available in the small town where I live, I would definitely give it a try.
You should try it out once if you get hold of the ingredients if you have an Indian store nearby you might find the ingredients there.
I never even heard of this vedgie! Thanks for opening my eyes !
Its very common veggie here, you might find in any Indian store if you have one in your neighborhood.
This soup recipe sounds very nice and light, I cant wait to try it out!
This looks very new to me, but a nice dish to try out. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Heard about such recipe first time in my life. Thanks for sharing this.
I will try this to make it soon.
Thanks, sure you will love the dish 🙂
I am in India but I have not yet eaten this dal I have to try this out I have eaten this veggie’s thick curry but not this kind of curry!!