Bottle gourd is the vegetable that a Jain kitchen keeps coming back to. It grows on a vine above the ground, it is mild, it cooks in under twenty minutes, and it takes a spice well. This is the everyday way to cook it: dry, lightly spiced, with nothing that the food rules set aside.
Because the dish is so plain, it is a good page for explaining the first of the rules, the one about root vegetables, in a little more detail than the recipes index has room for.
Serves: 3 to 4. Time: 25 minutes.
Ingredients
- 500 g bottle gourd (lauki or doodhi), peeled and cut into small cubes
- 1 tablespoon oil or ghee
- 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
- A pinch of asafoetida
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- 1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder
- 1/2 teaspoon dry mango powder (amchur)
- 1 green chilli, slit
- Salt to taste
- Chopped coriander leaves, to finish
Method
- Choose a young, pale green gourd. Cut off the ends, taste a piece raw, and discard the whole gourd if it is bitter: bitter bottle gourd can upset the stomach and should not be cooked.
- Heat the oil in a heavy pan. Add the mustard seeds and let them pop, then the cumin, asafoetida and the green chilli.
- Add the gourd, turmeric, coriander powder, chilli powder and salt. Stir well.
- Cover and cook on low for 10 to 12 minutes without adding water. The gourd releases its own liquid. Stir occasionally.
- When the pieces are tender but holding their shape, add the dry mango powder and cook uncovered for 2 minutes to dry off any extra liquid. Finish with coriander.
Why it follows the rules
It is an above-ground vegetable. The Jain rule on root vegetables rests on a classification found in the tradition’s texts. Plants are divided into those that carry one soul in one body (pratyeka) and those in which innumerable beings share one body (sadharana, or ananta-kaya). Roots and tubers such as potato, onion, garlic, carrot, radish and beetroot are named in the second group, because in the tradition’s account the whole plant stays alive and can regrow from any part, and lifting it from the earth ends a vast number of lives at once. Plants like gourds, which are picked from the vine while the plant lives on, belong to the first group.
That is the reason, and it is a reason of degree. Jain ethics holds that every living thing has a life, but that harm differs in degree, and that a person should choose the food that causes the least. The root vegetables are set aside not because they are impure but because eating them is judged to cost the most lives.
Dry mango powder, not tomato. Some households use tomato in this dish, and others do not, because of its seeds and its place in the wider debate about what is acceptable. Amchur gives the sourness without raising the question.
Fresh, and looked at. Cut vegetables are taken as fresh and cooked soon, rather than kept cut for a day. Looking each vegetable over before cooking is part of the same care.
Serving
Serve hot with phulka or thepla and a bowl of dal. The sabzi also works as a filling for a roll. Eat it the same day.
Variations
- With chana dal: soak 2 tablespoons of chana dal for an hour and cook it with the gourd for a heartier dish.
- Gravy version: add a cup of water and a spoonful of gram flour paste and simmer for five minutes.
- Peeled and grated: for children, grate the gourd instead of cubing it and cook for less time.
Related
- Jain recipes: the rules and the dishes
- Bhindi sabzi
- Lauki halwa
- Moong dal khichdi
- Rishabhanatha, the first Tirthankara
Frequently asked questions
↳ Why do Jains not eat potatoes?
Potato is a tuber, and the tradition places tubers among the plants in which countless beings share a single body. Taking one potato is therefore counted as ending a great many lives, which is why it is set aside in favour of vegetables that grow above ground.
↳ Is bottle gourd always safe to eat?
Taste a small piece raw before cooking. If it is bitter, throw it away, as bitter bottle gourd has made people ill. This is general kitchen safety and not a Jain rule.
↳ Is tomato acceptable?
Households differ. Some Jains do not eat tomato for its seeds or because it was a late arrival in Indian cooking, and others do. This page avoids it so the dish works for everyone.
↳ Can I skip the asafoetida?
Yes. The dish is still good without it, though it loses a little of the savoury background. A pinch of cumin and a splash of lemon at the end is a fair alternative.