Sorakkai

The Bottle gourd belongs to the cucurbit family.

It is big on vitamin C, vitamin B-3, B-5 and B-6 and also contains minerals such as calcium, iron, zinc, potassium, sodium, manganese and magnesium.

It is highly valued in Ayurveda and can be used to treat a wide diversity of complaints such as Jaundice, Diabetes, Obesity, Constipation, Acidity, Skin Conditions and the list goes on!

There is massive documentation about this vegetable, but what is important is for us to see it as a substitute for Zucchini.

They can just as well be fried with onion, ginger, garlic, chillies, salt etc with a delicious addition of crushed roasted peanuts at the end. As it cooks the bottle gourd releases water and turns golden and glossy.

This Bottle Gourd Sabzi, comes out juicy and beautiful. It is delicious with some Dosas or Chapathis or even rice!

This dish was one of the early hits of Solitude cafe, so easy and everyone loves it!

When we stick to our beetroots, cauliflower,potatoes, which don’t even grow here, we push farmers into a difficult position in which they can’t grow what’s suitable for this Bio-region and season – simply because no one will buy it.

At Least in Auroville hundreds of kilos of bottle gourd could be grown weekly all year round but there’s very less demand as people have been conditioned into thinking the produce of industrialised agriculture is better.

Make conscious choices and buy a bottle gourd today!!!