Suraikai Kootu or Paleo style Bottle Gourd Gravy with fresh ground coconut but without any lentils.
Paleo Bottle Gourd Gravy
In the recent past, I am noticing the gaining popularity of the Paleo diet which intrigued me to research more about it. So what’s paleo diet?
What Is Paleo?
To put it in simple words, it’s the caveman diet or Palaeolithic diet or stone-age diet. This diet includes fruits, vegetables, nuts, oils and of course meat while it doesn’t include any processed foods and also grains, legumes etc.
A diet without grains and legumes? Yes wiki puts it right; the diet is based on avoiding not just modern processed foods, but rather the foods that humans began eating after the Neolithic Revolution when humans transitioned from hunter-gatherer lifestyles to settled agriculture.
Like any other diet, Paleo is also promoted as a way of improving health. Even though I am not following paleo life style or for that reason any particular diet, the constant promotions in social media and popularity of ancient grains aroused my curiosity.
As usual Google helped me and luckily one of my school senior is following this life style and I got more information from her and also couple of vegetarian recipes. I would like to thank her at this time for sharing the information and this recipe too.
Processed foods are not allowed in paleo diet also I understood that it is difficult to avoid the foods that came after Neolithic revolution especially for vegetarians as the protein source is minimal. But this paleo diet took me back to our ancestors concept of “Food as Medicine” or as we say in Tamil “Unave Marundu”. When you remove the processed foods and incorporate proper exercise, you don’t need any separate medicines. It is good to see that the wheel is turning back again.
Paleo Style Vegetarian
I see many people following this lifestyle and here is my small effort to share some paleo style vegetarian recipes. I am not going to claim these are 100% paleo ingredients, but I am open for suggestions, feedback and ready to learn the alternatives. Please feel free to share your thoughts and comments. Today’s recipe is a simple kootu/gravy prepared with bottle gourd without any lentils and legumes. I did use cumin seeds and also included salt. (Salt consumption, needs a separate post. I need to explain why most of recipes uses less than 2 tsps of salt too. :-) ) 
Bottle Gourd Gravy or Suraikai Kootu Recipe
Ingredients:
- Suraikai | Bottlegourd – 1 medium sized or 5 cups of chopped bottle gourd
- Water – 3 tbsps + 2 tbsps
- Salt – ¾ to 1 tsp
For Tempering:
- Coconut oil – 1 tsp
- Cumin Seeds – ½ tsp
- Curry leaves – 4 to 5 leaves broken into small pieces
To Grind:
- Grated Coconut – ¼ cup
- Cumin Seeds – 1 tbsp
- Fennel Seeds – 1 tsp
- Green Chilly – 1 (I had big lengthy ones, so went with 1. Adjust as per the size and preference)
Prep – Work:
- Peel the bottle gourd skin and chop into small pieces.
- Grind the coconut, fennel seeds, cumin seeds and green chilly together by adding 3 traps of water.
Steps:
- Heat the kadai and add coconut oil.
- Once the oil is hot, add the cumin seeds and broken curry leaves.
- As the cumin seeds start to crackle, add the chopped bottle gourd pieces and mix well.
- Add the salt and sprinkle 2 tbsps of water and mix nicely.
- Cover and cook for about 5 minutes.
- Now remove the lid and by now bottle gourd would have oozed more water.
- Cook again for 3 to 4 minutes or until the bottle gourd becomes tender and soft.
- Now add the ground coconut masala and mix well.
- Bring to one boil and that’s it, the kootu is ready.
Notes:
- You can replace bottle gourd with chayote, ridge gourd or cucumber.
- Adjust the salt and spice as per your preference.
- Also adjust the cumin seed and fennel ratio as per your preference.
- Coconut oil is preferred, but can be replaced with olive oil or any other suggested oils suited for paleo diet.
- I prepared the thick consistency kootu, but you can add 1 more cup of water and bring it to boil for thin consistency.
Enjoying Bottle Gourd Gravy or Suraikai Kootu? You will love these, too:
Have you made made this recipe?
If you’ve made this recipe, please share your photos with me on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or Twitter – I will be delighted to see your results!
📖 Recipe
Bottle Gourd Gravy | Suraikai Kootu | Paleo Style
Ingredients
- 1 Suraikai | Bottlegourd medium sized or 5 cups of chopped bottle gourd
- 3 tbsps Water + 2 tbsps
- ¾ Salt to 1 tsp
For Tempering
- 1 tsp Coconut oil
- ½ tsp Cumin Seeds
- 4 Curry leaves to 5 leaves broken into small pieces
To Grind
- ¼ cup Grated Coconut
- 1 tbsp Cumin Seeds
- 1 tsp Fennel Seeds
- 1 Green Chilly I had big lengthy ones, so went with 1. Adjust as per the size and preference
Instructions
Prep - Work
- Peel the bottle gourd skin and chop into small pieces.
- Grind the coconut, fennel seeds, cumin seeds and green chilly together by adding 3 tbsps of water.
Steps
- Heat the kadai and add coconut oil.
- Once the oil is hot, add the cumin seeds and broken curry leaves.
- As the cumin seeds start to crackle, add the chopped bottle gourd pieces and mix well.
- Add the salt and sprinkle 2 traps of water and mix nicely.
- Cover and cook for about 5 minutes.
- Now remove the lid and by now bottle gourd would have oozed more water.
- Cook again for 3 to 4 minutes or until the bottle gourd becomes tender and soft.
- Now add the ground coconut masala and mix well.
- Bring to one boil and that’s it, the kootu is ready.
Notes
- You can replace bottle gourd with chayote, ridge gourd or cucumber.
- Adjust the salt and spice as per your preference.
- Also adjust the cumin seed and fennel ratio as per your preference.
- Coconut oil is preferred, but can be replace with olive oil too.
- I prepared the thick consistency kootu, you can add 1 more cup of water and bring it to boil for thin consistency.
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It varies depending upon the product types or brands.
Referred Links:
Yes oflate the paleo diet is becoming very famous. I thought the food needs to be uncooked or half-cooked also since that was the norm in the paleo age. Need to do more research here. Anyways awesome alternative to our regular kootu. This would go well with rice as well as chapathi.
I know. It’s kind of confusing. Agree need to do more research about the paleo diet. Thanks Ruchi.
Paleo is the new favorite I guess… I am surprised that even bottle gourd looks yummm
Oh yeah very true Priya. Thanks :-)
I would like to have it with rice
:-) Yup I love this with rice too.
Love the use of fennel in the kootu… great idea !!!
Thanks Alboni. :-)