Ridge Gourd with milk / Beerakaya palupossi

‘Beerakaya’ aka ‘Ridge gourd’ aka ‘chinese okra’ is one of  the delicate vegetables and is used to prepare a number of dishes like beerakaya pappu, beerkaya pachadi, beerakay senagapappu / channa dal, beerakay tomato,etc. Ridge gourd can also be cooked in combination with prawns and eggs. This vegetable by itself has a slight sweet flavor and blends in really well when cooked with other vegetables or meat.

One thing that every one has to be cautious about ridge gourd is, sometimes it can be extremely bitter. This is one among few vegetables that you have to taste it before cooking. I never heard of a way to know how to select ones that are not bitter with out tasting.

TIP-

In my early learning stages of cooking, I find it hard to select ridge gourd from the store, it is difficult to say if it is tender or not by looking from outside. Now I think I got pretty good idea of it. Select the ones that has the ridges close to each other and the vegetable should be soft to the touch. If the ridges are far away and the vegetable is hard to the touch I wouldn’t recommend it.

Today’s recipe is very simple, quick to make and very tasty. I am cooking ridge gourd with milk. The meat of the vegetable itself is slightly sweet and when cooked with milk, it gives a creamy texture which melts instantly in your mouth.

Ingredients:

• 3 ridge gourds peeled and chopped into small pieces
• 1 medium onion finely chopped
• 1 tsp red chilly powder or according to taste.
• ¼ tsp turmeric
• salt to taste
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tbsp oil
• ½ tsp mustard seeds and cumin seeds
• 3 garlic cloves

DIRECTIONS

1. Pre-heat oil in a thick bottom vessel. Add mustard seeds and let them splutter. Add cumin and curry leaves and stir fry for a few seconds.
2. Add chopped onions and sauté till the onions turn pink. Add the chopped ridge gourd pieces, combine and cook on medium heat for 2 mts. Add salt, chilly powder, mix them and let it sauté for a min with closed lid.
3. Keeping mixing the curry once in a while till the ridge gourd is fully cooked.
4. While stirring the curry, add milk and keep stirring to reduce curdling.
5. Mash the vegetable a little bit with the back of the spoon so that the whole curry will get together to a creamy consistency.
6. Adjust the taste, switch off the flame and serve it with steamed rice or roti.

Note-

1. If using pressure cooker, cover the lid after step2 and let it whistle for 2 times. open the cooker when all the pressure is off. If any water is left in the curry let it boil and follow step 4 from the above directions.

Note- Try not to add water in the recipe, it makes the curry little bland. It is always best to let the vegetable cook in it’s own juice.  Adding little salt, helps to get juice out of the vegetable. Always cook with a lid on a medium low flame, so you will get the vegetable juice out instead of evaporating. Hope these tips help you in getting the real taste of this delicate vegetable so that you can enjoy it.

Because of it’s health benefits it is recommended to include ridge gourd at least once a week in your meal. You can even cut this veggie finely and include it in your morning or night salad.