Bottle gourd with milk / Sorakaaya Paalu Posina Kura

When ever i see ‘bottle gourd’ aka ‘Sorakaaya’ aka ‘Dudhi’, i remember the days when i am a child we had this plant and we always had surplus to our family… so we used to share with our neighbors.. One time we were so tired of eating this vegetable, we tried to convince my mother not to plant this vegetable, but in vain. One year we had such a huge crop our neighbors at that time have begged us not to send any more too.:)

Here is one of my grand mother recipes with bottle gourd and milk. Not a lot of ingredients, very simple yet tastes awesome with rice, chapattis and jowar roti. This vegetable also has a slight sweet taste.

Ingredients-

• 1 Sorakaaya/ Bottle Gourd- outer skin peeled, then cut into cubes
• 1 small onion
• 1 Tbs salt
• 1 Tbsp Chili powder/ 4 green chilies
• 1 cup milk
• 1 Tsp each of Cumin and mustard seeds

Directions

1. Heat 2 Tbsp of oil in a heavy bottom pan.When it heats add mustard seeds, jeera, turmeric and curry leaves.
2. Add mirchi pieces and onions. Sauté them for a min and add little salt to make the cooking process fast. Sauté till onions are translucent.
3. Add bottle gourd pieces and sauté them for 2 mins.
4. Add chill powder if you did not use green chilies
5. Mix all of them well and cover with lid.
6. Mix the curry once in a while to prevent it from burning. Adjust the taste as desired.
7. When the vegetable is fully cooked. Mash it gently with the back of the spoon
8. Add 1 cup of milk and let it boil by constantly stirring for a min. Let the whole curry come together to a creamy consistency.
9. Serve it with rice and ghee or roti.

NOTE-

1. When using pressure cooker, let it cook for 2 whistles.
2. Turn off the flame after 2 whistles, let it sit until all the pressure is gone.
3. If the curry has any more water, let it simmer and follow step8 from above directions.

Natural Benefits and Curative Properties

• The cooked vegetable is cooling, diuretic, sedative and ant bilious. It gives a feeling of relaxation after eating it.
• Bottle gourd is very valuable in urinary disorders. A glassful of fresh juice prepared by grating the whole fruit should be mixed with teaspoonful of lime juice. It should be given once daily in the treatment of burning sensation in urinary passage due to high acidity of urine. It serves as an alkaline mixture.
• The juice of bottle gourd is a valuable medicine for excessive thirst due to severe diarrhea, diabetes and excessive use of fatty or fried foods. A glassful of plain juice with a pinch of salt should be taken everyday in this condition. Its use during summer prevents excessive loss of sodium, quenches thirst and helps in preventing fatigue.
• Mixture of bottle gourd juice and sesame oil acts as an effective medicine for insomnia. It should be massaged over scalp every night
• The Gourd fruit juice is used in the treatment of insanity, epilepsy and other nervous diseases.
• The juice of the fruit is used in the treatment of stomach acidity, indigestion and ulcers.
• Bottle Gourd helps in constipation. Bottle gourd is not only rich in essential minerals, iron, protein and trace elements; it is also rich in fiber. Fiber is known to be missing in the modern diet, the absence of which is the cause of not only constipation but other digestive disorders like flatulence and even piles. Hence diet using different preparations made from this vegetable are useful