Cucumber with milk / Dosakaaya paluposina curry

Dosakaya paluposina curry

This week end also, I did some back yard cleaning and found some yellow cucumber aka dosakayallu. I have 3 more getting ready to harvest and those will be the last for the season .

This is a summer vegetable which acts as a natural cooling agent. This vegetable can be cooked in different varieties like- dosakaya pappu, dosakaya tomato, dosakaya mulakaya(drumsticks), vankaya dosakaya pachadi, dosavakai etc to name a few. Today I am making a simple and delicious recipe with milk which enhances the taste of this mild flavored vegetable.

Ingredients-

• 1 large dosakaya or 2 medium dosakaya (Indian yellow cucumber)
• 1 small onion (1/2 of a large onion) chopped
• ½ cup milk ( 2% or whole milk anything is fine)
• 1 tsp Salt or according to taste
• 1 tbsp red chili powder  or according to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 tsp each of mustard seeds, cumin, chana dal and urad dal
• 1 or 2 dry red chilies
• 1 sprig curry leaves

dosakaaya peeled and seeded

Directions-

1. Wash and peel dosakaya. Slice into half and taste the seeds and flesh for any bitterness (If the flesh is bitter, discard the dosakaya. If the seeds have bitter taste, peel the membrane that connects the seeds and wash the flesh with water)
2. Chop dosakaya (cucumber) into 1inch pieces.
3. Heat oil in a sauce pan and add mustard seeds, once they splutter add cumin, red chili, urad dal, turmeric and curry leaves.
4. Once all of the above tempering is golden brown, add onions and sauté them till transparent.
5. Add dosakaya pieces and sauté them for 30 sec with out any lid.
6. Add salt, red chili powder and cook it with the lid closed on medium heat. Cover and cook, until done, stirring now and then with out burning or drying the curry.
7. When the cucumber pieces are well cooked (soft to touch) add ½ cup milk, mix gently and cook without lid until the curry is well done to the right consistency.
8. serve with steamed rice and some urad dal vadiyallu or roti

Tip-

We can cook this recipe in a pressure cooker, after step 6, cover the pressure cooked with lid and let it whistle 2 times.

When the pressure is released, open the lid and follow step 7.

dosakaya palu posina kura and urad dal vadiyallu on the side