Ridge Gourd Curry
Beera kaaya/Turai/Ridge Gourd is often compared as an Indian equal of zucchini, but ridge gourd tastes so much better. They have a succulent and tender flesh with a delicate, mildly sweet flavor, like crisp lettuce pieces. Ridge gourd is one of my favorite vegetables of all time and I don’t think I ever get tired of this vegetable. It tastes great cooked as it is or as medley with other vegetables like potatoes and carrots.
They are available almost year round in India and also here at US Indian grocery shops. If it is your first time buying ridge gourd, keep in mind to select only fresh looking, young, thin ones. The overripe, stout ones, just like all gourds, won’t have much flesh inside of them and taste somewhat bitter. And also avoid any, that feel soft or generally look limp, as they will be dry and not worth using. Some useful tips.
The following recipe is one way I prepare ridge gourd often and enjoy it very much.
Recipe:
2 to 3 young, fresh looking ridge gourds – With a peeler, scrape the outer skin, mainly the protruded hard ridges. Wash and dice into bite-sized pieces.
Small onion- cut into small pieces
1 or 2 green chillies and 1 tablespoon coconut pieces – grind to smooth
¼ cup or 2 to 3 tablespoons of milk
¼ tsp of turmeric
¼ tsp salt or to taste
Popu or tadka Ingredients (cumin, mustard seeds, curry leaves)
Heat a pan and do the popu or tadka (frying half teaspoon of mustard, cumin seeds, dry chilli and curry leaves in one tsp of oil).
To this popu, add onions, saute them for few minutes to soft.
Add the ridge gourd pieces, coconut-green chilli paste, milk and turmeric.
Mix them all well. Cover the pan partially and cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally. Within 10 minutes, the vegetable will be cooked to tender. If there is lot of water in the pan, then increase the heat to high, remove the lid and cook on high heat for few minutes, until all the water evaporates.
At the end, stir in salt. (Salt brings out the water in vegetables, so in saute style curries, always add salt only at the end.) Mix and turn off the heat.
Serve with rice and dal as side dish or with chapati.
Beerakaaya (Ridge Gourd): Raw and cut ~ ~ ~ Cooked and served.
Recipe source: Amma (Mother). We call this curry “palu posina beerakaya kura” in Telugu.
These pictures are very appealing and are great assets to your website. By the way, Beerakaya kura is one of the nice recipes and you did it nicely.
Comment by vj — October 5, 2005 @ 10:52 pm
Indira- I really did not know a good way to make this vegetable. Thanks for a new recipe to use it. In Tamil Nadu, the peel is sauteed and made into a chutney.
Comment by mika — October 6, 2005 @ 10:48 am
I know this is horrible but as I don’t think I will be able to find it here in Italy, do you think it could be done with zucchini without loosing too much of the plate’s character?
Comment by Ilva — October 6, 2005 @ 2:26 pm
VJ…I am glad you like this recipe, Thanks.
Mika…Really? I am surprised.I thought everyone has some sort of their favorite recipe with this vegetable.
Adding milk is optional but it gives extra something to this curry.try it out and let me know, thanks.
Yep, we too prepare chutney with the peel back home. It is my mothers favorite chuteny. But I never prepared it here, it tastes great only when prepared with freshest ridgegourd peel, which is not possible here.
llva…I often prepare this curry with Zucchini too. But the water content of zucchini is much more than ridge gourd, so the end result always turns out more watery, but it tastes ok with chapatis/rotis.
Comment by Indira — October 6, 2005 @ 7:14 pm
I have always wondered how to make that vegetable–now I know and can try it! It is a lovely looking dish. Beautiful color.
Comment by Barbara — October 6, 2005 @ 9:08 pm
This is a very good recipe with photos of the final outcome. i am really impressedd and am definetely going to try this out.
Comment by Cinderella Girl — October 18, 2005 @ 7:38 pm
Brilliant!!! We call it Petola in Malay. I also love it stirfried with garlic and ginger – there is a certain sweetness in the vegetable that comes throu. Steamed petola stuffed with japanese egg tofu (which I can’t get in the neterhlands unfortunately).
Comment by Lisa — October 21, 2005 @ 3:18 pm
I love to check out your recipes. The photos of the dishes makes my mouth water! I’ve never cooked Ridge Gourd before, but after coming across your website and seeing those lovely photos, I had to give it a try. Now this unwieldy looking vegetable is one of my favorite. Thanks for maintaining a great website.
Indira replies:
It does taste great, isn’t it?
I’m glad you’ve found a new vegetable to like.
Thanks for letting me know, appreciate the feedback.
Comment by Hema — April 1, 2006 @ 3:02 am
thank you for this great recipe…i tried it last night. my husband and i really liked it
Comment by Nabeela — April 20, 2006 @ 8:39 pm
Hi Indira,
I came to know abt ur website recently and now I am a regular visitor. I forwarded this site to my sister, she loved it too and made a few dishes from the website.
I made beerakaya pappu and beerakaya pacchadi following ur recipies, turned out real good.
Thank You very much!!!
Menaka
Comment by Menaka — June 20, 2006 @ 10:39 am
HI
Just coocked its very nice, i got the test like my mom vanta.
Thanks
Comment by anand — August 22, 2006 @ 9:42 pm
Nice dish, i got this link in no time and in flash.
Thanks for your efforts
Comment by sastry — September 22, 2006 @ 1:41 am
its good see your site with pictures … do keep this specality of u r site … as some times its very confussing what they say and what the recipe looks like after cooking … but its nice site where i can fine raw vegetables with ingredents to add and the cooked curry . thank you very much
Comment by swetha — December 14, 2006 @ 9:09 am
nice recipe!i just love the photographs.we add kottimeera+pacchi mirchi paste to the basic recipe.we make podi(powder)with the peel,which is supposed to be carminative.your site just ROCKS.
Comment by jyotsna — January 9, 2007 @ 8:59 am
Hi indiragaru,
Nenu me site almost regular browse chastunta. Me site lo chala information undi. The way u presendt receipe is fabulous. Thanks for this receipe.
Comment by aparna — March 7, 2007 @ 9:49 pm
Hey Indira..
this one rocks too !! nice soothing taste.
thanks
Comment by abhi — July 5, 2007 @ 8:15 pm
Hi Indira, I knew only one recipe for this vegetable. I love it too. Today I tried this recipe and it’s turned out really good, thanks for sharing. Your site is really cool, love the pics.
Comment by Taiba — November 5, 2007 @ 11:32 pm
Hello Indira,
Thanks for this nice dish with ridge gourd…You have great recipe collection for this vegetable. My hubby wanted something with this and I didnot know what to do other than ‘Dhaal’…but knew where to find the recipes for any kind of vegetable as that matter. So, immediately came, saw and went and prepared just now. Smell is yummy…so came to thank you immediately.
Thanks..
Meena.
Comment by Meena — March 8, 2008 @ 12:37 am
Thank you Indira for another wonderful way to cook ridge gourd. I am growing some in my garden this year (Los Angeles area), so I need many ideas on how to prepare them.
Great site – love the recipes and pictures, and especially your notes about the various ingredients and dishes!
Comment by Brenda K — August 12, 2009 @ 1:55 pm
Hey ya,
i hate cooking and i am married to a guy who is so fond of eating and we stay in Amsterdam and we have no option other than to cook and eat..
I am referring to these as a guide to me as i forget all the recipes even though i cook them n number of times…
Thnk u for all the cool recipes.. and the best thing abt u is that u post all the recipes so easily made like my mum 🙂
Sweths…
Comment by Swetha — October 28, 2009 @ 3:39 am
whenever i see ridge gourd, its always oozing with some type of sap. does this mean its overmature?
for any vegetable you feature, please teach us how to select the frehsest one and to avoid any health issues for i read that some of our vegetables are not safe to eat when overmature.
Comment by Radha — January 6, 2013 @ 8:07 pm
I used to usually refer your website for my bachelor kitchen. Pl suggest some quick recipes for singles. It would be more useful if printable format is given for each recipe. Thanks.
Comment by A K jaiswal — October 4, 2014 @ 1:55 am
Great post I would like to thank you for the efforts you have made in writing this interesting and knowledgeable article.
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