Bottle gourd in milk sauce curry/sorakaya palu koora

Summer is almost over and I am trying to enjoy all the summer dishes as much as I can. One dish my mom used to make during summer is bottle gourd in milk sauce.

I could not get the right word to express in english but my mom used to say 'chalava chesthundhi'. This dish to me is same as soups to me in Winter. During hot summers this dish will help cool your body and acts a cooling agent which is very simple to make in no time. It tastes best when it is hot and when accompanied by a touch of ghee..Enjoy!!!

Ingredients

1 medium sized bottle gourd chopped bite size(around 3 to 4 cups chopped pieces)
1 medium onion
4 green chillies minced
1 big clove garlic minced
1 cup milk
Salt per taste
Red chilli powder per taste
2 tbsp oil

For Tempering

1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp urad dal
1/2 tsp chana dal
couple of pinches of Asfoedia
5 or 6 curry leaves
1 dried red chilli broken into two
1/2 tsp turmeric

Method

Heat oil in a pan. Add in the tempering and let them splutter. Add in the minced garlic and minced green chillies and fry for couple of minutes. Now add in chopped onion and fry for 5 minutes or till they turn translucent.

Now add in the bottle gourd pieces, salt and give a good stir gently. Close the lid and let the bottlegourd pieces cook in its own water. The pieces should be fork tender by the time all the water evaporates. If not add in little water and let the bottlegourd cook till fork tender.
At this point check the taste and add the red chilli powder if needed. Keep in mind that adding milk later will kill the spice, so add red chilli powder accordingly.
Add in the milk, give it a good stir, close the lid and let the curry cook for 5 minutes on medium to low heat. Turn off the heat and garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve with hot steamed rice and ghee.