Bottlegourd Chutney (Aanapkai pacchadi)

Wash and cut the bottle gourd into small pieces, along with the peel or else it would become very mushy. Heat oil in a pan, add the cut bottle gourd pieces to it and fry for few seconds.

Cover the pan and let the bottle gourd cook for a few minutes. Once it is cooked, remove from flame and cool it. Let this mixture cool. Soak the tamarind in little water, until it just dips below the water level.

Take a pan, add oil to it and heat it on medium flame. Once the oil is warm, add black gram, mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and fry for a minute.

Add chopped pieces of green chilies and red chilies. Fry for a few seconds. Add a pinch of asafeotida to this and stir. Remove from flame and let it cool.

In a blender, add the cooled seasoning mixture, and grind to a powder. Add to this, the cooked vegetable, salt and turmeric. Grind this to a coarse paste in the blender.

Extract the tamarind pulp and add this to the above mix. Or you can instead add the soaked tamarind to this ground paste. Ensure the tamarind is free of its seeds and fiber.

Blend the paste to for few minutes. Based on your preference, it can be ground either to a coarse consistency or to a fine paste.