Doi Potol .. or Dahi parwal or Pointed gourd in rich curd based gravy!!

It is a very famous bengali dish and this particular recipe is my mother in laws recipe. And is super delicious. Do give it a try!!

Ingredients:

Mustard oil
Pointed gourd / Potol : 500 gms
Onions : 3 medium sized sliced
Tomatoes : 2 medium sized
Ginger garlic paste : 1 tspn each
Mustard poppy seeds paste : 2 tspn poppy seeds 1 tspn mustard seeds
Curd : 1/4th cup
Turmeric : 1 tspn
Sugar : 1 tablespoon
Shahi garam masala ; 1/4 tspn ( you can use any garam masala)

Tempering
1/2 tspn jeera
2 green cardamom
2 cloves
1 cinnamon stick

Procedure:

This is a simple recipe, you need to do a little prep up and then mix everything together one by one.

First make the paste of mustard poppy seeds, which should be soaked for atleast 30 minutes. Dont forget to add a pinch of salt while making the paste.

Then take the potol/ pointed gourd , add salt and turmeric and shallow fry them till golden brown from all the sides.

Now take the onions in a pan , toss them till they are translucent and make a paste. Remember we are not making brown onion paste here. The paste will look pale pink in colour.

Now take the tomatoes, toss them till they are soft. Don't over cook them else they will become mushy which we don't want.

So now you should have the following things ready
mustard poppy seeds paste
fried potol / parwal
onion paste
tomato paste
beaten curd.

now its basically mixing everything one by one on low flame.

Heat oil (about 2 table spoon) in pan and add the tempering followed by the onion paste, also add the sugar at this point for a nice colour.
Once the onions are done , you see the oil separating then add the ginger garlic paste and the turmeric at this point. Again cook till oil separates,
Now add the tomato puree, salt, garam masala and red chilly powder . Again cook till oil separates.

Once the masala is cooked now add the mustard poppy seed paste and the beaten curd, again cook on low flame till oil separates.

Then add the fried potol/ parwal/ pointed gourd.

Now again simmer for 5 minutes, check the seasoning and the consistency of the gravy. This is a thick gravy so avoid adding too much water.

Granish with cashews and raisins and serve with rice!!