Bottlegourd and some magic

There is some magic in the combination of coconut, groundnut, and tamarind which works for me. I have been completely floored by its taste. Yesterday night I made this combination work for lauki. It was love in first bite. :) I had a lovely, tender, seedless medium sized lauki. And two potatoes. Why potatoes? Well, I didn’t have any specific intentions when I added it except that it will add volume to the sabzi so that I can take it for lunch tomorrow and the second intention was a seemingly vain attempt that hubby dear will eat it. But only later after eating it did I realize that potato played an important role in the taste. It is indistinguishable and yet adds a subtle taste of its own. Lauki being pretty bland otherwise. Guess what Anurag ate it! And liked it!!
Ok..so on with the procedure. (Procedure word scares me as it reminds me of programming ;) )
So you have the cut up lauki and potatoes. Get a wok, heat oil and add mustard seeds to let them splutter, add hing, curry leaves (about 6-7), garlic (4-5 cloves), haldi and the vegetables. Stir, cover, open, add salt, cover and cook till done. What do you do in the meantime? Make the paste which is going to make the sabzi delicious. Take a handful of coriander, half an inch of ginger, a green chili, about a 4-inch piece of coconut, handful..Make it two handfuls.. of roasted groundnuts and about a 3/4th small cup of tamarind water. Grind it to a paste. While you grind this, the sabzi will be cooked. This sabzi doesn’t require much oil. Now add the paste to it and some water if needed, some jaggery and bring to a boil. It should neither be a gravy nor a dry sabzi..somewhere in between....I am confusing you, ain’t I? Well, my point is just that the paste should coat the sabzi evenly, not be runny like gravy.