Bottle gourd shrimp curry

 I was looking for something new for dinner and I stumbled upon this Bengali recipe with some gourd and shrimp and it looked super delicious and I improvised it with bottle gourd and it turned out to be spectacular. So here you go

Bottle gourd shrimp curry (Spicy curry with bottle gourd and shrimp)

Bottle gourd shrimp curry

Ingredients:

1. 1 medium to large bottle gourd peeled, cored and cut into quarters length wise and sliced into 1/2 inch thick 1-1.5 inch ling strips (quarter circles)
2. 12-16 oz medium small shrimp peeled and deveined
3. 1 medium small onion sliced
4. 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
5. 1 tablespoon oil
6. 1 teaspoon of salt divided
7. 1 teaspoon each of chilli powder, coriander powder, onion seeds (kalonji)
8. 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
9. Cilantro for garnishing

Clean the shrimp and add 1/4 teaspoon salt and turmeric, mix and set aside for 10 minutes

In a pan heat the oil and fry the drained shrimp for 1 minute. Drain and set aside. In the same pan add the onion seeds (add 1/2 tablespoon more oil if needed) and fry for a minute. Add the onions and fry till they start becoming dark brown. Add ginger garlic paste and try and fry for a minute. Add the bottle gourd pieces and add salt and cover and cook for 10 minutes. Add 1/2 cup water and cover and cook for 10 more minutes. Add all the spices and cook on medium high flame for 5-7 minutes until the curry is semi dry. Garnish with cilantro and enjoy with white rice and dal