Molagootal – Chayote squash gravy

Happy Saturday everyone!

When my Mom makes this at home, I devour it! It is a simple delicious (vegan, no onion, no garlic) gravy made by many vegetarian families from Kerala, India. It is usually made with freshly grated coconut but I used coconut milk instead. It may also be made with ghee for garnish but I used vegetable oil so it is totally vegan! This molagootal can be eaten with rice or roti!

The main vegetable in this dish is chayote squash. I found 6 of these for a $1 in Walmart’s discounted food section. Use a pressure cooker and these get cooked very quickly!

Excuse the mismatched plates, bowls, and other items 🙂 I still live like a college student!

Molagootal – Chayote squash gravy (vegan, no onion or garlic)

Ingredients

• 3 chayote squash, peel, take out seed, cut into small cubes
• 1 cup yellow daal/moong daal
• 1 cup coconut milk (1.5 cups will make this more creamy)
• 1 tablespoon jeera/cumin seeds
• 2 small thai green chilli (red chilli can be used as well)
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
• salt to taste
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil (for garnish)
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds (garnish)
• 1/2 teaspoon urad dal (garnish)
• water as needed

Use the pressure cooker to cook the chayote squash and daal together. I usually turn the stove off after three whistles. Leave it closed until you have prepared everything else.

Grind the coconut milk, jeera, thai green chilli and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Make sure it is ground well.

Open the pressure cooker and drain the excess water from squash and daal. Add turmeric and ground coconut milk/jeera/chilli to the squash and daal. If the gravy looks too thick at this point, add some water. Add more salt if needed. Simmer on medium heat for a few minutes and turn off.

The garnish will require you to heat up the vegetable oil in a separate pot. When this is hot add the mustard seeds, these will sputter and jump around. Next, after the mustard seeds have sputtered add the urad daal to the mustard seeds. Make sure to stir so the urad daal does not burn, it should be a light brown colour. Add this to the gravy and you are done! The garnish adds a bit of crunch! ❤

Hope you love this as much as I do… 🙂