Bottle Gourd Kurma is a healthy curry recipe made with the bottle gourd (aka Lauki, Dudhi, Doodhi, Ghiya) cooked together in an aromatic spicy kurma or korma masala made of coconut, cashews, and other spices in the Instant Pot Pressure Cooker.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 10 minutes
  • Cook time: 15 minutes
  • Total time: 25 minutes
  • Yield: 4
  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

  • 1 small lauki (bottle gourd) (peeled and diced (about 2 cups))
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 1 teaspoon cumin (jeera) seeds
  • 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
  • 2 green chilies (finely chopped)
  • 1 small onion (finely chopped)
  • 1 large tomato (finely chopped)
  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder
  • 1 teaspoon coriander powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
  • 3/4 cup water
  • salt (to taste)
  • 2 tablespoons coriander leaves
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice

For Grinding

  • 1/4 cup shredded coconut ((fresh or frozen))
  • 6-8 cashews ((or 2 teaspoons of poppy seeds))
  • 1 inch cinnamon stick
  • 2 cloves
  • 1 teaspoon saunf (fennel seeds) (optional)

Method

  1. Wash bottle gourd, peel the skin, deseed if any, and cut into ½ inch pieces.
  2. Grind coconut, cashews, cloves, cinnamon, saunf, to a smooth paste.

Instant Pot Method:

  1. Press SAUTE on Instant Pot. Add oil to the POT. Once the oil is hot, add cumin seeds and let them crackle.
  2. Next, add ginger-garlic paste, and green chiles. Saute for a few seconds.
  3. Add onions and saute until onions turn light brown.
  4. Next, add chopped tomatoes, spices like red chili powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder, and cook till they turn soft.
  5. Then add the water and deglaze the pot to remove any bits stuck to the bottom of the pot.
  6. Add in the diced bottle gourd, ground coconut-cashew paste, salt, and mix well.
  7. Close the Instant Pot with pressure valve to Sealing. Cook on High Pressure for 3 minutes.
  8. Once the pot beeps, do a NATURAL PRESSURE RELEASE (NPR).
  9. Remove lid away from you, add lime juice and garnish with cilantro. Mix well.
  10. Lauki Kurma is ready, serve with hot with pooris, chapatis, roti & parathas.

Stovetop Pressure Cooker Method:

  1. Follow the same steps, close the lid, place a whistle, and cook for 2-3 whistles on medium flame. The bottle gourd Kurma recipe is ready to serve.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.