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.