Dudhi Besan chi Bhajee (Squash with Chickpea Flour Sauce)

I have been slowly but surely working my way through the bottle gourd squash curries in the book. The fritters were delicious (if somewhat lacking in structural integrity and general healthfulness). The patra and squash curry sounded very promising, but turned out to be a bit of a letdown in the end. Not bad, just not great either. But this one... this one FAR exceeded my expectations!

I wasn't really expecting much from this curry. It didn't really seem to have a whole lot going on. Just a bunch of bottle gourd squash chunks floating in a watery sauce with only a bit of chickpea flour and a few spices to round it out. Doesn't really excite the palate, does it? But it was a relatively quick and easy vegetable side and it used up bottle gourd squash, so I made it to go along with a few other curries and called it a day.

I no longer remember what other curries I made to go with the squash. I'm pretty sure they were good. But this one stood out for just how deceptively good it was. I would definitely recommend it if you find yourself, like me, with a huge surplus of bottle gourd squash and are looking for a use for it.

Dudhi Besan chi Bhajee

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 700g bottle gourd squash
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground turmeric
• 2 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 4-5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-3 fresh green Thai, finger, or serrano chilies, halved lengthwise
• 1 Tbsp. chickpea flour
• 10 fresh (or frozen) curry leaves
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
• juice of 1 lime

Directions

1. Peel the squash. Trim the ends and cut it in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds. Dice the flesh into ~1cm cubes.
2. Place the squash cubes in a pot and add enough water to cover them.
3. Add the salt and the turmeric and bring to a boil.
4. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the somewhat tender but still retains some of its crispness (~15 minutes).
5. Pour off 1 c. of the cooking water and set it aside. Drain the squash.
6. Heat oil over medium-high heat.
7. Add the cumin seeds and sizzle for 10-15 seconds.
8. Add the garlic and chilies and stir-fry for ~1 minute.
9. Add the chickpea flour and cook for 30-60 seconds.
10. Whisk in the reserved cooking water.
11. Add the curry leaves, sugar, cilantro, and drained squash.
12. Reduce heat to medium and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 2-4 minutes.
13. Remove from heat and stir in the lime juice just before serving.