Puli Koddel Konkani Delight

Ash Gourd or winter melon or white gourd is a very healthy vegetable called as kuvale in konkani. Kuvale puli or puli koddel is a konkani dish, a coconut based curry that is sweet, spicy and sour. This thick curry is usually prepared on special occasions and served with rice. 
Ash gourd has many health benefits and has great medicinal value.
Ash gourd juice is good to loose weight.
Ingredients:
1/2 kg ash gourd
1/2 cup grated coconut
4 dried red chillies
2 tablespoons of tamarind
2 teaspoons of raw rice grains
1/2 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 teaspoons of corrainder seeds
2 teaspoons of seasame seeds
a pinch of turmeric powder
2-3 tablespoons of jaggery
3 tablespoons of oil
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds 
10-12 of curry leaves
salt to taste
Method:
Peel the ash gourd and remove the seeds in the middle. 
Chop the ash gourd into big cubes and cook them on flame directly or in a pressure cooker for 1 whistle until done using 1 cup water. You need not add lots of water or until the ash gourd pieces dip whether your cooking on a flame or in a cooker (presure cooker).
 You can add salt while cooking if your cooking ash gourd in a pressure cooker. If your cooking ash gourd on gas then do not add salt until its almost cooked as it doesn't cook sometimes.
Meanwhile prepare the masala.
Preparing the masala:
For preparing the masala, frying the spices right is very crucial or the taste changes.
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a skillet, simmer the flame. Add spices into skillet for frying, in the same order as written here with continuous stirring to make sure uniform frying. Add fenugreek seeds, corrainder seeds, cumin seeds, dried red chillies broken into pieces, curry leaves, seasame seeds, rice grains, turmeric powder, grated coconut and fry them for few minutes on a low flame.
Remove off heat and allow it to cool completely.
Grind the fried contents along with salt, jaggery and tamarind into a coarse paste. Add jaggery depending on how sweet or spicy you want the puli to be.
Add the ground masala and the cooked ash gourd into a cooking vessel and mix well.

Add water if required. The consiatency of kuvale puli is usually thick. Keep stirring once in a while and cook on a low heat as it could stick to the bottom. Be very careful.
Check and adjust salt. Simmer for few minutes until the rawness of the masala goes off.
Remove off heat and season it with mustard seeds and curry leaves.
Serve hot with a bowl of hot steaming rice.

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