Bottlegourd Surprise

A friend had invited our family for dinner. She had prepared bottlegourd halwa for dessert and I was absolutely bowled over by the taste. That's when I realised I had NEVER used bottlegourd earlier. I decided to give it a try and with the tips from my mum, prepared the below mentioned dish. I made kheer, halwa, koottu and curry (on different days ofcourse!!) and I'm impressed with the veggie, which is supposed to have nutritional benefits as well.
Here's one which could be had with rice / rotis.

Ingredients :-
Bottlegourd - about 500 gm
cumin seeds - 1 tablespoon
curd - 1 tablespoon
grated coconut - 1 cup
green chillis - 2
coriander leaves - just enough to garnish
salt - 1 spoon or as per your taste
Mung dhal - 1 tablespoon
Oil - 1 tablespoon

Method :-
Soak the mung dhal in double the quantity of water. Set it aside for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, heat a pan and add oil. Add some jeera (cumin seeds) and saute for few seconds.(make sure jeera doesn't turn dark). Now add bottle gourd pieces (peeled and cut into small cubes) and saute for few seconds. Add some water and allow the vegetable to cook until just tender. Add salt while the veggie is getting cooked, so that the salt is absorbed within the veggie. Simmer the hob. Grind chillis, jeera and grated coconut (chutney consistency) and add the mixture to the pan. Leave it for sometime for all the ingredients to blend well. Once off the hob, allow it to cool and then add the mung dhal (make sure to drain all water) and curd. Garnish with coriander leaves/parsley.

TIPS :
-Any dish that you prepare using a combi of coconut and jeera would taste better if you use coconut oil.
- This could be prepared without mung dhal, and would only taste better.

I couldn't call it curry, as there was this gravy.. couldn't name it kootu either as it wasn't of that consistency.. Kosumbari wasn't a good choice for the name as that wouldn involve raw veggies...hence just called it bottlegourd surpirse.. sorry peoples..if you've thought this to be some icecream recipe (like mango surprise).