I normally try out different vegetables but recently because I have been really busy in shifting my house I haven’t focussed a lot on cooking! I have just been trying quick and easy recipes using vegetables that I can chop up easily 🙂 I thought of sharing some of these easy recipes here for busy days.
Ridge gourd/heerekayi is a super easy vegetable to cook. Peel the sharp edges out and chop into bite sized pieces – with that preparation is done! It cooks down easily in 10 minutes. I use it in dals and curries almost once a week. This recipe is a simple dry curry recipe using basic ingredients. The coconut and roasted dals add a great richness to the vegetable. I also added some capsicum in to vary the taste a little. You can pretty much use the same spice mixture with a whole ton of vegetables for variation. I have tried this with tindora/thodekayi, knolkhol/navilkosu, etc
I have added a step by step video along with the written recipe below! Let me know how you like the new format 🙂
Ridgegourd Coconut Stir Fry (Heerekayi Palya)
- 2 medium ridge gourds
- 1/2 small capsicum
- 1 tbsp channa dal
- 1 tbsp urad dal
- 2 tsp cumin seeds
- 4 dried red chillies (or to taste)
- 2 tbsp coconut
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 2 tsp oil
- salt to taste
Method
- Wash and dry the ridge gourd. Peel the sharp edges and chop into bite sized pieces. Chop the capsicum as well.
- Take a large pan. Heat 1 tsp oil. Add the dals, cumin seeds and red chillies and roast for a few minutes.
- In a mixer, add coconut and the roasted dal mixture. Add some water and blend to get a coarse paste.
- In the same pan, add 1 tsp oil. Once the oil is hot, add mustard seeds and let it splutter.
- Add capsicum and saute well. Add the chopped ridge gourd also to the pan. Add little water and salt. Saute well and let the vegetables cook for about 10 minutes.
- Once the ridge gourd becomes soft (not too mushy), add the ground paste and mix well. Simmer for 5 more minutes and serve hot with rice or chapathis.
