Bottlegourd spinach dal

Bottlegourd - lauki / surakkai / sorakkai (Tamil) , spinach - pasali keerai , dal - a curry or koottu made of lentils.

Lauki dal with spinach.

This is the spinach I grew this year. Most common variety in USA.

Spinach.

Ingredients:
Toor dal (lentil) - 1/2 cup
bottle gourd - 1 (very small)
spinach -  20 leaves
curry leaf - 1 sprig
mustard seed - 1/2 tsp
urad dal - 1 tsp
coconut oil - 1 tbsp
tomato - 1 (optional)
salt - to taste

To grind:
shallot - 3
coconut - 2 tbsp
dry red chilly - 3
garlic - 3
cumin - 1 tsp

Method:
Rinse the dal (lentils) . Pressure cook the  dal with 1 1/2 cup water, 1/4 tsp turmeric powder, 1/8 tsp of asafoetida (hing), garlic - 5 cloves. Bring to one whistle, reduce heat and let it get cooked in medium heat for 10 minutes, then switch off. After the pressure is released , mash the dal and keep aside. (This is how I cook the dal always, but we can do it in stove-top too).

Grind the items mentioned to a fine paste and keep aside.

Chop the bottle-gourd to small cubes. Also rinse and chop the spinach.
Heat  oil in a vessel, add mustard , urad dal and let the mustard crackle. Then add the curry leaves, finely chopped tomato and cook till tomato gets mushy. Now add the bottlegourd and cook covered with a handful of water. After it is almost done, add the spinach, salt and saute. Then add the cooked dal, prepared masala. Keep in rolling boil for 1 minute. Switch off.

Lauki spinach dal is ready !

Serving suggestions:
Serve as side dish with chapati.
Sometimes I mix this curry with rice for lunch pack.
Serve as curry over rice along with appalam (pappad) and malli thogayal (cilantro chutney)