{"id":566,"date":"2015-05-01T23:33:00","date_gmt":"2015-05-01T23:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/veganlovlie.wordpress.com\/2015\/05\/01\/bottle-gourd-curry-oil-free-vegan"},"modified":"2019-12-11T02:18:53","modified_gmt":"2019-12-11T07:18:53","slug":"bottle-gourd-curry-oil-free-vegan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/veganlovlie.com\/bottle-gourd-curry-oil-free-vegan\/","title":{"rendered":"Bottle Gourd Curry – Oil-free"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A very fragrant bottle gourd curry<\/strong> bursting with flavour from aromatic spices, tomatoes and herbs. Sweet potato added to the curry gravy makes a creamy base with a hint of sweetness. This vegan curry is also oil-free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While a common vegetable in Africa and Asia, bottle gourd is not all that well-known or common in the Western World. In Mauritius, we mostly refer to it as calabash (or calebasse) even though calabashes<\/a> are actually not gourds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The calabash is mostly round (which I have not seen before) while the bottle gourd is elongated and come in various thickness. This gourd is quite bland on its own with a very subtle peppery taste. The texture is quite watery and feels like something in between a zucchini and a cucumber, although when cooked it does remain firmer.
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In Mauritius, they are commonly added to stews and curries or very often braised and prepared Creole style. I love this vegetable in all types of preparation; even the skin is not thrown away and is used to make tasty chutneys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The bottle gourd is easy to prepare. The skin is thin and can easily be peeled with a vegetable peeler or knife. It has a spongy centre where the seeds reside. Depending on how tender the gourd is, you may leave the seeds in or remove them along with the spongy part. Then it can be sliced or cut into cubes and added to recipes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it depends on how tender the gourd it, the amount of time it takes to cook is usually somewhat close to cauliflower. When choosing a bottle gourd, you would preferably look for tender ones that feels a little heavier. The mature ones are generally lighter and have larger seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this bottle gourd curry, I have added a selection of chickpeas and beans. You can use any beans that you like. I particularly like the combination of brown chickpeas with the bottle gourd as I find that their earthy flavour marries the hint of pepperiness from the gourd perfectly. You may substitute with red kidney beans for something close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this video, I explain the easy step by step process of how to make this Bottle Gourd Curry.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n