Our kitty, Kittaya enjoys greens. He likes to eat cilantro, wheat grass and catnip. His latest green find is methi (fresh fenugreek leaves). He picks up a branch with his mouth and walks around the house munching on the leaves. Kitties are notoriously finicky eaters, some of you may know this already and we are extremely happy with his new choice. See, we like fresh methi too. So the recent routine is, almost every week we buy a bundle of fresh fenugreek from local Indian grocery shop. I keep few branches for Kittaya on the side in a vase. With the remaining I was trying out different recipes. One such recipe is methi with ridge gourd (turai, beerakaya). Sweet tasting vegetables like ridge gourd and potato etc compliment potent fresh methi. Easy to prepare, decent curry to have with chapatis or with rice and dal. A different taste but nonetheless a good one.
Fresh Methi and Ridge Gourd Pieces
Recipe:
2 ridge gourds (peel the ridges, wash and chop to bite sized pieces)
1 bunch fresh fenugreek (Wash and chop or pluck the leaves)
1 onion – finely chopped
6 green chillies and one tsp of grated coconut – finely ground in a spice grinder
Turmeric and salt to taste
Ingredients for popu or tadka (1 tsp each – oil, curry leaves, cumin and mustard seeds)
Heat oil in a wide skillet. Add and toast popu ingredients in the order listed. When mustard seeds start to jump around, add the onion. Saute until the onion pieces soften. Add ridge gourd pieces. Mix. Cover and cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes. Ridge gourd pieces usually are tender and they cook fast. Methi leaves won’t take more than two or three minutes to wilt/cook.
At the end of 10 minutes, add methi leaves, green chilli-coconut paste, turmeric and salt. Mix and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring in-between. Serve hot with rice or with chapati.
Methi Turai Curry (Menthi Beerakaya) with Plain Toor Dal Rasam and Rice ~ Our Meal Today
Glad to see you back online.Missed your posts.Methi turai curry looks delicious..
Comment by maheswarisubbu — February 13, 2007 @ 4:01 pm
Hi Indira, so nice to see you back 🙂
Methi and ridge gourd are both favorites, so I shall certainly try this, thanks! Your first photo looks like a bit of springtime this chilly evening.
On Kittaya and greens — I have wanted to try giving some to my guys too but was a little nervous. Maybe now I’ll try a bit of catnip… thanks again 🙂
Comment by Linda — February 13, 2007 @ 5:18 pm
This one sounds very interesting, i havn’t cooked with ridgegourd for a long time, will have to buy some soon. so nice to see your homely posts back.
Comment by Archana Thomas — February 13, 2007 @ 5:30 pm
you have to becareful. Some plants are poisonious to cat or dog
Comment by Cindy — February 13, 2007 @ 6:41 pm
Hi Indira,
nice to see you back online! I live in San Francisco and here I get methi from the farmers market(ferry plaza market).It’s actually in some health stall thing.The methi is different from the one you have in your pictures as it is the one that has just sprouted.There are only two tiny leaves and he sells it sometimes with clover leaves and sprouts.I add the whole methi after super thorough washing to the dal.It’s pretty tasty 🙂 I also use green bean sprouts from chinese stores with dal too.
-Sushma
Comment by Sushma — February 13, 2007 @ 10:34 pm
I am so amused imagining Kittaya munching on these greens and walking around!Its so cute!There arent many interesting dishes with ridgegourd but this combo sure sounds good!
Comment by sumitha — February 14, 2007 @ 1:47 am
Glad to know you are back!!!! 🙂
The combo looks great!!! Methi and turai!!! Absolute opp tastes. 🙂
Comment by Coffee — February 14, 2007 @ 2:54 am
Never tried this combo before. Sounds interesting and delicious. Thanks for the recipe.
Comment by Pavani — February 14, 2007 @ 5:29 am
Hi Indira,
Good to see ur posts again.. methi with ridgegourd is new to me. thanks for the recipe
Comment by prema — February 14, 2007 @ 6:00 am
Glad to see a lovely green and healthy recipe from you!
ps: In case you didn’t already know, you’ve been nominated for IndiBloggies 🙂
http://www.indibloggies.org/nominations-2006
Comment by @ — February 14, 2007 @ 9:10 am
oh, this is new….Methi and Turia together is a nice combo, I’ve recently tried Methi with Red radish and besan. The toordal rasam looks great, I made something similar last night!
Happy V Day Indira! and congrats for being nominated at Indiblogs!
Trupti
Comment by Trupti — February 14, 2007 @ 9:34 am
Hi Indira –
Happy V day! Great recipe! I can feel the love in the air with your methi and Kittaya story! So cute!!
Congrats on your nomination on Indibloggie awards..
Praba
Comment by desimom — February 14, 2007 @ 9:46 am
Maheswari, thanks.
Kittaya likes to eat greens, Linda. He picks up the leaves by himself. We noticed he likes methi, when I was growing methi in a pot last summer. We are constantly surprised at how well he takes care of himself. He is one health conscious kitty.:)
Thanks Archana!
Hi Cindy – onions are poison to Kittaya. That I know. Also I am confident that Kittaya would pick only things that are best for him.
Hi Sushma: You mean fresh baby methi? How lucky you are. I am jealous.:)
He looks so adorable, Sumitha. But if we try to hug him, he runs away. He is very independent kitty.:)
Coffee: Complete opposite is right but here there is lot of attraction between them.:)
Hi Pavani and Prema: This recipe is not that popular as others. But tastes good, give it a try.
Trupti: Congratulations on being nominated for the awards! You rock!
@: Thanks and also for posting the link here.
Thanks Praba.:) Happy V Day to you too. Also I just noticed that your blog “Saffron Tree” in Best new Indiblog category. Yay! Congratulations! Seeing your blog just made my day. So happy and I already voted for you.
Comment by Indira — February 14, 2007 @ 11:09 am
Congrats Indira…..:)
Comment by sandeepa — February 14, 2007 @ 12:35 pm
HAPPY MAHA SIVARAATHRI..Indira garu.
Purnima.
Comment by purnima — February 15, 2007 @ 7:28 am
[…] I heard that some kitties love methi — it seems pinkie is no exception […]
Pingback by Recent Happenings « Out Of The Garden — March 7, 2007 @ 5:40 am
hi indira
i love ur site
i frequently visit for recipes
this methi beerakaya recipe , i love the curry ,it has brought me so many complements ,all the credit goes to u for posting such wonderful recipe
thank u
Comment by aparna — February 28, 2009 @ 10:51 am
Curry is very nice with rice
Comment by Vasanthi — February 27, 2013 @ 11:49 pm