Ashgourd in yoghurt sauce (Majjige HuLi)

What do you do if you have excess of curds or buttermilk? And some juicy vegetable like ash gourd or cucumber or bottle gourd? In our house it is Majjige HuLi, a special side dish for rice having veggies in a spicy yoghurt sauce. And this is generally accompanied by baLaka/majjige menasinakai (salted, fried green chilies) and sandige (fritters).It makes a nice change from the usual rasam and sambhar and in a very healthy way.

This time it is Majjige HuLi with ash gourd. Peel off the gourd and chop the outer part of the gourd for this. And what do you do with the inner pulp? Well, deseed it and save it in the refrigerator for another exciting recipe coming soon!
Here’s the recipe...

Ash gourd Majjige HuLi

Preparation time : 15 min, excluding time for soaking Cooking time : 15 min Serves : 4-5 Ingredients: Ash gourd - 2 cups (chopped into chunks, outer part) Chana dal - 1 Tbsp, soaked for at least ½ an hr Cumin seeds - 2 tsp Ginger - 1” cube Green chilies - 5-6, depending on taste Coconut - 3 Tbsp, grated Coriander leaves - 2 sprigs Curds - 1 cup Buttermilk - ½ cup Turmeric - 2 pinches Salt - 1 tsp or according to taste For tempering: Oil - 1 tsp Cumin seeds - 1 tsp Method: • Soak the dal in enough amount of water • Cook the chopped ash gourd in enough water till tender. Do not over cook • Meanwhile, grind the soaked dal, cumin, coriander, ginger, green chilies, turmeric and coconut to a fine paste, adding a little water • Once the vegetable is cooked, add the ground paste and salt and bring to a boil • Add curds and adjust the consistency with buttermilk and continue to boil for a couple of minutes. • Make tempering with cumin seeds, add and serve with rice. Tastes good even when cold Tips n Tricks: • Do not overcook the ash gourd • Let the sauce not be too thick. Adjust the consistency with more or less buttermilk Variations: • Veggies like ash gourd, cucumber, winter melon, bottle gourd make this dish good • The same can be prepared with greens too

Sending this to Akila's event: Dish name starts with A.