Bottle Gourd Coconut Chutney

bottle gourd chutney
Bottle gourd coconut chutney is kind of like a South Indian equivalent of hummus.  It has a looser consistency, but you can really just spread it on most everything.  The flavors of this chutney are sweet from the coconut and squash and balanced out by the fiery hotness of the green chillies (can use jalapeños) and sour from tamarind.  You may have to play around with the flavors to reach the right balance because of the variance of spiciness in chillies and the consistency of your tamarind (pulp vs. concentrate), but it’s worth it!

This recipe is inspired by my mother’s ridge gourd (herekai) chutney which she makes very well.  I hope I am doing it justice because it’s actually one of her specialties.  She also includes cilantro in her recipe (I didn’t have any unfortunately) which adds a nice flavor and also color to the chutney. In the recipe below, I have put the measurements for cilantro in case you have. I had made this chutney using the bottle gourds that Jason had grown for Diana and my first Tangra event. He had a lot of success as you can see from how large he was able to grow them:

4F4A2459

photo by Ethan Finkelstein

Bottle gourds have several different names in India. For instance, in the South where my mom is from they’re called sorakai, in the North where my father is from they’re called lakhi and in Gujarat in West India they are called dudhi.  They are used differently in each place – added to stews, stir-fries or like I’m going to show you made into a chutney!  In India there are also chutneys made just from the skins of the squash. For my version of the chutney, I peeled the skins, but I’m sure you could also make it with them for another flavor and texture.

bottleghourd

This squash has a nice wateriness to it when cooked that I love, which makes grinding it into chutney that much easier.  You can find this squash in Indian or Asian markets. If you can’t find it though, you could experiment with a zucchini I’m sure and come out to a similar type of chutney.

We served this chutney with sweet potato dumplings, which took them over the edge.  This chutney is traditionally served with idli, steamed rice cakes or dosa, savory crepe, but it’s great mixed into rice or as a sandwich spread.

 

 

Pin It
 

One Response to Bottle Gourd Coconut Chutney

  1. ami@naivecookcooks says:

    First time on your blog and loving your recipes!!

Comments are closed.