Cho Cho, Christophen, Mirliton, Xuxu – the vegetable Chayote has more names than any other vegetable, I think. The name changes with ethnicity of grocery shop. In Nandyala, my hometown in India, chayote is sold as ‘Bengaluru Vankaya’. Our tiny town imports this vegetable from Bengaluru (Karnataka) region, so the name. The kind we get has more prominent ridges, unlike the very smooth surfaced ones that’s common here. Pale green and pleasantly sweet, chayotes are favored in curry and sambar preparations in our area.
Although available year round, this is the season, where you would see the prices come down for this vegetable here in US. We can buy 2, or sometimes 3 chayotes for a dollar. And 2 are needed to make a decent portioned curry to eat with chapatis for two people. Often I combine the chayotes with potatoes and carrots to make it more substantial and to last at least two meals for us.
Mild flavored chayotes dressed up in coconut-chilli seasoning and little bit of turmeric, together with potatoes and carrots make a delicious curry and a welcome addition to the meal at any time of the day.
Choyate cut to half, seed discarded and diced to cubes
Recipe:
2 each – chayotes, small red potatoes and carrots – lightly peeled and cubed to bite sized pieces. I usually remove and discard the seed from chayote (see the photo above) following the traditional method. Reason given by elders is that seeds are not good for health. I am not sure how true that saying is but still I follow.
1 tablespoon of fresh grated coconut and 6 small green chillies – grind finely in a spice grinder or in a mortar.
½ cup of fresh green chickpeas (green garbanzos/Hara chana or Choleye)
½ teaspoon each – salt and turmeric
popu or tadka ingredients – 1 tsp each – peanut oil, cumin, mustard seeds and 4-6 curry leaves.
In a wide skillet, heat peanut oil on medium heat. Add and toast curry leaves, cumin and then mustard seeds. When seeds start to jump around, add the green chickpeas. Saut? them for few minutes.
Add the chayote, potato and carrot cubes. Cover and cook on medium heat for about 10 to 15 minutes, stirring in-between. Just when they are getting tender, stir in the green chilli – coconut paste, salt and turmeric. Mix thoroughly and cook for few more minutes, covered until the vegetables reach the tenderness you desire. Chayote releases water on cooking and this water helps to tenderize the potatoes and carrots.
Serve warm with chapatis or with naans.
Chayote curry wrapped in chapatis with a cup of yogurt on the side ~ Our afternoon meal
Fresh, green chickpeas purchased from – Indian grocery & and also at Trader Joe?s Frozen section.
Never thought of combining bengaluru vankaya with carrots and potatoes. Looks delicious. Will definitely try this combo next time. Thanks Indira.
Comment by Pavani — January 9, 2007 @ 9:10 am
Hi Indira,
Here’s wishing you and your family a very happy & prosperous 2007.
Thank you for everything you do . I cannot thank you enough for getting me interested in cooking!I visit your blog at least once a day & when I do visit other blogs, for some reason, I have to go through yours first!!
Your recipe using choyate is really good & simple. I have seen this vegetable in the Indian store here but never quite knew what to do with it (just like your brussel sprouts veggie recipe… never even knew that one could use it the way you have mentioned)
Keep up the good work!
Happy 2007!
Comment by Mini — January 9, 2007 @ 3:42 pm
Wow!Looks so yummy! I never knew of this combination. I gotta try this soon.
Comment by Deepu — January 9, 2007 @ 5:41 pm
Hi Indira,
I am a regular visitor to your site. I love reading the recipes posted & the descriptions about the preparation etc. It is fabulous.
As I am from Bangalore itself, I want to share another recipe using the Begaluru vankaya. My mom used to make it while I was at home. Now that i am in London i make it occasionally.
The ingredients are:
1 Seeme badanekayi (as it is called in Bangalore or the Bengaluru vankaya)
3 cloves garlic.
2 spoons tamarind pulp.
3-4 green chilies.
3 Tb sp curds/yogurt.
Pinch of turmeric.
Salt to taste.
Method of preparation:
Chop the vankaya into 1’ cubes. Heat 1 spoon of oil in a pan; add the chillies, garlic cloves & the vankaya pieces with a pinch of turmeric & salt. Fry until they are cooked. Allow them to cool. Grind these along with: tamarind pulp, curds into a fine paste. Then make a tempering of jeera, mustard, urad dal, curry leaves & red chilies.
Serve with hot rice.
Hope you like it. Happy cooking!!
Luv-Usha
Comment by Usha Niranjan — January 10, 2007 @ 4:42 am
Indira,
(Belated) Happy New Year to you and your family.
Thanks for all your wonderful recipes which make it to our dinner/lunch menus every week.
Jayashree
Comment by Jayashree — January 10, 2007 @ 1:55 pm
Hi Indira,
My name is Suma.A couple of months ago, I saw your website for the first time and ever since visiting it.Chayote is one of my favorite vegetables. My mom used to prepare sometimes in the way you posted (including french beans)when she had to finish the small quantity of each vegetable left.
Also, I would very much appreciate if you could add my blog to your bloglist.
The URl of my blog Veggie Platter is http://www.veggieplatter.blogspot.com.
Tagline is “Vegetarian recipes from India and around”
My blog contains vegetarian recipes, mainly from Andhra and Karnataka.
Thanks
Suma
Comment by Suma Gandlur — January 10, 2007 @ 3:54 pm
oops!!I typed my blog Veggie Platter’s URL wrong by mistake. The correct one is here. It is http://www.veggieplatter.blogspot.com
Sorry about that.
thanks
Suma
Comment by Suma Gandlur — January 10, 2007 @ 3:59 pm
Your besan baingan looks delicious ! question .. dont we have to roast the besan first ? Is it enough just to sprinkle besan mixture at the end ?
Comment by Krithika — January 11, 2007 @ 5:24 am
Hi Indira,
I made the chayote curry today.. forgot to add garbanzo beans!Still turned out really well. This one’s a keeper for sure. 🙂
Comment by Mini — January 11, 2007 @ 2:52 pm
Hi Indira,
Tried out this curry today and it was excellent. I had never had chayote before, but had seen it in the store and was curious to try. Had it wrap-style and w/yogurt and loved it. (I added a little tamarind paste to the coconut/chilli mixture and it worked well).
Kudos to you and all the work you do on this site. I am a frequent reader and have had success with every recipe of yours I’ve tried (the methi chole recipe was delicious!).
Best,
Amanda
Comment by Amanda — January 23, 2007 @ 4:55 pm
tried this too a couple of times and loved it.. whenever i get tired of my own cooking i pop over here and try some. thanks again.
Comment by archana — February 27, 2007 @ 7:04 pm
Indira,
Tried your bangaloru vankaya recipe , I must say it was one tasty dish , thanks for introducing this vegetable to my palette
http://sreelus.blogspot.com/2007/03/bangaloru-vankaya-kura.html
Regards,
Sreelu
Indira replies:
Hi Sreelu, glad to hear that you tried and liked this recipe. Thanks for letting me know.
Happy cooking
Comment by Sreelu — March 20, 2007 @ 10:10 pm
Hello!
My name is Kate.
I would like to have a link on your home page. My site is about indian sweets. Connect me via e-mail: sudarkinakate@gmail.com
Comment by Kate Sudarkina — May 6, 2010 @ 9:46 am