HCF: Dudhi Bataka nu shak | Bottle gourd and potato curry

This shak (we Gujarati call shak to the vegetable curry) is my favorite from childhood. I used to eat all the vegetables which my mom used to make, never been a fussy eater, don't understand why my kids are so fussy. Anyway, when my mom used to make this curry, we used to crumble rotis in shak and its gravy and eat it which means you don't have to bite it roti every time, it’s just mixed in curry , so you can get in every bite curry and roti. But when you grow up , you forget all this and behave like a very manner person and eat it nicely. So whenever I make this , I feel like eating that way only but I control myself but at the end when I have half roti left I just do it. There is no fancy ingredients or spices used, its everyday cooking and spices. Mostly everyone is making this in their home , following their family recipe. So this is my family’s recipe which I am sharing with you all.

Ingredients :

2 cups of chopped dudhi (bottle gourd) in cubes

1 potato chopped in cubes

1 small onion finely chopped

2 tbsp. tomato puree or 1 tomato chopped

1 tbsp. Ginger garlic chili paste

1 tsp. Badshah Turmeric powder

2 tbsp. Badshah Red chili powder or as per taste. Looking at my curry you can get the idea how spicy my curry is.

1 tsp. Badshah garam masala powder

1 tsp. cumin coriander powder

Salt to taste

2 tbsp. oil

Method:

Take a pressure cooker, yes for this recipe you need pressure cooker, you can make this in pan, but it will take very long time to cook and you don't get that thick consistency also, as per my taste though.

Add oil in it and add onion in it too. Cook till it become brown.

Add tomato puree along with ginger garlic chili paste.

If you are using tomato add that with paste too.

Cook for a minute or two till paste cook.

Add all your spices along with bottle gourd and potatoes.

Now bottle guard loose lot of water while cooking. So don't add too much water in it, just add ¾ cup of water and salt and put the pressure on.

Cook it till 3-4 whistles. When the cooker is cold and pressure is out, open up the cover and check if there is enough consistency of gravy there. You don't need runny gravy, thick one. so you can dip your roti in it and eat it.

If there is too much water, cook it on open cover and let it boil the water till you get your desired result.

Serve it with phulka rotis or just plain rice.