Bottle Gourd (Sorakkai) Adai - Bottle gourd and lentils spicy pancakes

Bottle Gourd - this unsung unglamorous vegtable apparently has so many benefits. I admit I am not a fan but when you eat something harvested fresh you start to become a fan. Just a simple dal with onions, green chilies and finely chopped bottle gourd is so tasty. It is hard to believe there are no spices in it.

If you are a beginning gardener and want to feel gratified, this is absolutely the vegetable to grow. Non fussy and very productive provided you choose a good seed and have fairly good soil. They are heavy climbers so the trellis should be sturdy or a tree is good and they can even be let to spread on the ground.

In summer when I have an abundance of this vegetable I look for new recipes that it can be used. One such find is this adai. We are game for any kind of dosai and the thing with this adai dosai is it does not need fermentaion. So you can grind it and use it immediately. The rice and lentils need to soak for at least 4 hours.

The recipe itself is pretty simple, here is the recipe in pictures,

Soak rice, toor dal, moong dal and urad dal overnight.
Soak red chili, fennel seeds and cumin seeds and chop the bottle gourd into small pieces.
Blend the rice and dal in a grinder to a coarse paste along with the chilies, cumin and fennel seeds.
Blend the bottle gourd, add it to the blended rice and dal mixture along with grated ginger, chopped chilies and onions (if interested.
Heat a griddle and add a laddle of batter.
Spread it in a circle, add oil on the edges, when cooked on one side flip and cook on the other side.

Bottle Gourd Adai
Preparation Time:25 minutes
Cooking Time:15 minutes
Soaking Time: 4 hours
Ingredients

1. 1 1/2 cup idli rice
2. 1 cup toor dal
3. 1 cup moong dal
4. 1/4 cup urad dal
5. 7-8 red chilies
6. 1/2 tbsp cumin seeds
7. 1 tsp fennel seeds
8. 1 bottle gourd cut into small pieces for blending
9. 1 tbsp grated ginger
10. finely chopped curry leaves (as much as you want)
11. 1/4 - 1/2 cup finely chopped onion (optional)
12. 1-2 tsp of finely chopped green chilies
13. salt to taste

Method

1. Soak the rice, lentils for about 4 hours minimum or overnight.
2. Once soaked in a grinder preferably or in a blender grind the rice, lentils and the red chilies, cumin seeds and fennel seeds to a slightly coarse batter.
3. Blend the bottle gourd separately and add to the rice lentil batter along with salt.
4. Add the grated ginger, finely chopped onion, curry leaves and green chilies and mix it in well.
5. Add only enough water to make a pourable batter. No need of fermenation, the batter is ready for use.
6. Heat a tawa or griddle and when hot, add a laddle of batter.
7. Spread the dosai in a circle as thin or thick as you want. Add oil to the edges and let it cook.
8. When it starts to brown a bit, flip and cook on the other side.

Adai can be eaten with some chutney or the best combo is to eat with mor kuzhambu.

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