Gar Dudhiya Saalli Upkari (Bottle-gourd (peel) skin curry)

This humble “Gar Dudhi Saali upkari” is prepared in most homes of the GSB community especially from Mangalore and Udupi region. I have however made this with a slight twist.

“Gar-dudhi” in Konkani language means Bottle-gourd and “Saali” is the peel/skin and of course upkari means a dry curry. In Hindi it is known as "lauki".  This is normally prepared by cutting a slightly thick slice of the skin and then chopping the skin into strips (breadthwise). Potato is generally added in this curry.

Gar-Dudhi was never a favorite in our family. But believe it or not the Gar-Dudhi Saalli upkari was always welcome. It’s a simple dish but tastes really wonderful. Try it out once and you will never ever discard the precious skin of the Dudhi !

The slight twist that I was talking about is that I have used the manual grater to grate the skin lengthwise so that it resembles like noodles. I have also incorporated carrot to add colour to the otherwise dull looking dish. Hence the whole dish gets a makeover and looks very appealing and to use the well known phrase - “old wine in a new bottle”.

 Ingredients:

Bottle gourd	1 medium
Potato	1 medium
Carrot	1 medium
Water	½ cup
Salt	As per taste
For Seasoning:
Oil	2 tsps
Mustard seeds	1 tsp
Dry Red chilies	2
For Garnishing
Chopped coriander leaves	1-2 tbsps
Grated coconut (optional)	1-2 tbsps

Method:

Grated vegetables with the grater

Grated (Bottle-gourd peel, potato and carrot)

1. Wash all the vegetables and wipe them dry with a kitchen towel.
2. Peel the potato and carrot and keep them aside.
3. Cut the bottle gourd (Dudhi/ Kaddhu) in two or three pieces roughly the same size of the carrot. Then grate each piece of the (bottle gourd) lengthwise in such a way that only the outer skin is grated leaving the flesh of the gourd intact as we need only the skin of the gourd for this recipe.
4. Immerse the grated skin into a bowl of water immediately to avoid discoloration.
5. Once this is done, grate the potato in the similar way.
6. Finally grate the carrot also lengthwise so that the length of all the grated vegetables is more or less equal.
7. Heat the oil on a medium flame in a Kadai or pan. Add the seasoning ingredients. Once the mustard seeds start spluttering, lower the flame, add the grated potato (discarding the water). Increase the flame and give it a good stir.
8. Next add the grated carrot and grated skin of bottle gourd and mix well. If it sticks to the bottom, add a little water and stir well. Add salt and allow it to cook for about 10 minutes or till done. Switch off the gas.
9. Finally garnish it with chopped coriander leaves and freshly grated coconut.

Note:

• I totally forgot to add the freshly grated coconut while photographing it.
• This dish tastes good with rice and dal or rasam. Also goes well with chapattis.