Lauki Malaikari – Bottle gourd curry with coconut milk.
Last week I was speaking with my soul sister and famous blogger, Simi Jois, about blogging easy recipes. There are numerous easy recipes run in every family. However, we bloggers wonder who will make such a recipe and never end up blogging it. But what’s common in my family is unknown to you and many. Today’s post is about one such dish.
If you are Indian, you know what malaikari is. You also know we Bengalis are known for our Shrimp malaikari, and I do have a shrimp malaikari recipe on my site (which I need to re-shoot). But this malaikari is vegetarian and made with Lauki or Bottle Gourd.
Every Bengali family has their own malaikari dish. What’s common and widespread in my family is not regular in other families. Despite having minute details, coconut milk is commonly used in malaikari. It’s a royal and signature dish, and we often prepare it for both our small and large events. The addition of ginger, onion and cashew paste is ma’s speciality.
When I went to H-Mart, and I found fresh green bottle gourds, I started doing my happy dance. My husband rushed to me and wondered if I had found a pot of Gold. Well, the joy was not dissimilar to that. Bottle Gourd is very much popular in an Indian Household. You can call it Indian Zucchini. During the summer months (which is most of the year) ma used to prepare many dishes with bottle gourds – Dal, regular curry, curry with poppy seeds (posto), malaikari and what not. She used to tell me that -“It’s going to lower your body temperature, and you’ll feel relaxed”. Which was true, Bottle Gourd is known for its medicinal and therapeutic benefits.
Now, here comes the hard part – picking a bottle gourd. How do you choose a nice and young green bottle gourd? I saw my dad getting scolded (a lot) for bringing old and ripen ‘lauki’ from the market. So I decided to ask ma, how can I choose green and young ‘lauki’? She said and I strongly agree that old ones do not taste great! She said to look for the green smooth skin and firmness by inserting one corner of your nail. If your nail inserts easily with a little pressure, it’s young.
Before this recipe, I have always used store bought coconut milk. But from this recipe onwards, I decided to make and use my own coconut milk at home. It’s a little bit of work, but worth every microsecond of it. Ma never uses store bought canned milk as it’s not available there. So she grates the coconut herself and gets the milk out of it. Believe me or not, I avoid making this at home – but this time I listened to her, and I am so glad that I did.
Serve this luscious green bottle gourd in a rich coconut-y curry (lauki malaikari) with aromatic basmati rice. You can accompany with dal and potato fries, but it’s great on its own too. My husband and I are hard-core seafood lovers, but we loved this vegetarian version of malaikari a lot.
Recipe for Lauki Malaikari – Bottle gourd curry with coconut milk
Notes for preparing the coconut milk:
I prepared this just like mom instructed. First, I broke the coconut in half. Then I scooped the flesh out with a blunt pairing knife. After that, I peeled the skin and broke them into small pieces.
Using a food processor, I grated the coconut with one tablespoon of water. After that, I squeezed the milk out of the coconut and set it aside. We call that part “coconut cream“.
Then I transferred the shredded coconut back into the blender and added 1/2 cup of water. I made a puree and strained out the milk. This is what we call “coconut milk“.
Then I added another cup of water and put the shredded coconut pieces back into the food processor. After three minutes it turned into a fine paste. I strained out the final bits of coconut milk and prepared the coconut rice with this light milk.
Ingredients
- Coconut Rice
- 2 cups light coconut milk – as mentioned above
- 1 cup basmati rice
- salt to taste
- 1/2 cup water
- Lauki Malaikari
- 2 small red onions, 1 cubed, 1 thinly sliced
- 1 piece (1 1/2 inches) fresh ginger
- 2 dried red chiles
- 1 mace flower
- 1 piece (1 inch) cinnamon bark
- 3 green cardamom pods
- 3 black cloves
- 1 tablespoon cashew (broken) pieces
- 1 tablespoon water
- 4 yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cubed
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- Salt to taste
- 1 tablespoon ghee (clarified butter)
- 1 Bayleaf
- 1 1/2 cup coconut milk
- 2 medium bottle gourd (2 pounds), peeled, cut into 2 1/2 inches long and 1/2
- 1 teaspoon red chile powder
- 1/4 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon coconut cream
- Juice of 1 lemon
Instructions
Coconut Rice
1. As mentioned above, I cooked the rice with light coconut milk.
2. Wash and drain a cup of basmati rice. Transfer the light coconut milk to a saucepan. Add rice and a generous amount of salt. Cook it for 10 to 12 minutes, or until water has disappaered. Add 1/2 cup more water if needed.
Lauki Malaikari
1. In a food processor, add 1 cubed red onion, ginger and 1 red chilli. Work it until smooth. Take it aside in a bowl. In a coffee or spice grinder, add mace flower, cinnamon, cardamom and cloves.Work it until it is powder. Take it aside in a dry bowl. In the same coffee or spice grinder, add cashew pieces. Work it until smooth. Take it aside in a bowl. Add 1 tablespoon water to create a fine paste.
2. In a non-stick pan over a medium heat, heat vegetable oil. Add potato pieces and salt. Cover and cook it for 6 to 8 minutes, or until they are golden brown. Take it aside with a slotted spoon. In the same pan, without washing, add 1 tablespoon of ghee.
3. Add onion slices and fry it over a medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes, or until they are golden brown. Add onion-ginger-chile paste, 1 red chile, and 1 bayleaf. Cook it for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the masala is cooked through.
4. Add cashew paste and 2 to 3 teaspoons of coconut milk gradually, 1 teaspoon at a time. Cook it for 2 to 3 minutes, or until you see the masala paste is cooked through. {I know it’s a bit confusing to cook the paste like this, but ma strongly suggests cooking the paste very well in this phase. It infuses a lot of flavor to the curry}
5. Add lauki pieces and cover and cook it for 4 to 5 minutes, or until they are little firm. Add potato pieces, salt, chilli powder, the rest of the coconut milk and cook for 5 to 6 minutes, uncovered. Add ground dry spices, sugar, coconut cream, lemon juice. Stir to mix it well. Take it aside. Serve with some coconut rice.
Absolutely fabulous recipe. I am so glad you shared it with us. I can’t wait to get bottle guard. I am always on the look out for creative ways to make veggies – I dig this.
Lovely presentation – I know curry is so hard to shoot. Loved it !!
lovely write up ! and beautiful pictures! love you writing skill. 🙂
The first time I saw shelled and de veined tiny shrimp I felt like I found a pot of gold is grocery store. We do make a lauki and shrimp coconut based curry with dal and different spice. Its really yummy with rice.
Hmm ghee, coconut cream and cashew, that must be one rich curry to have on a lazy Sunday afternoon.Looks yummm…
I do have a shrimp malaikari recipe, need to re-shoot though.
Thank you Simi! It means a lot to me 🙂
Beautiful Photos Dolphia. 🙂
Beautiful recipe. Every ingredients are @home. Going to make this tomorrow.
Share the picture with us! 🙂
Wow……! Gorgeous photography ……..! and fantastic recipe with bottle gourd. First time here….. beautiful space….. 🙂
Thank you!
I can’t believe you’ve made Lauki sound so interesting! I absolutely detest the vegetable but you make it sound almost exotic. Lovely pictures Dolphi 🙂
Thank you dear!