Dondakaaya (Tindora) mukkala pachadi

My mom taught this recipe, it is almost an instant recipe and with very little cooking and ofcourse less cooking more healthy. Most Andhra people know about Cucumber (Dosakaya mukkala) Pachadi. This recipe is of the same version. When I first heard about the recipe, I was little skeptical to try, but my mom keep encouraging me to try and kept saying, that it wont disappoint me, so I gave it a shot and it surprised me as to such a simple dish can make a huge difference on the plate and is so quick to present. I made this at a get together to share with my friends and they all loved it.

Ingredients-

• 20 Tindora (Dondakaya / Ivy Gourd)
• 6 Green chilies or according to taste
• Hand full of Cilantro  (Kothimera)
• Marble size tamarind (soak it in warm water for 5 min)
• 3 Garlic cloves
• 1 dry red chili
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp jeera
• few curry leaves
• Salt to taste

Directions-

1. Clean dondakaaya (Tindora) and trim the ends. Cut them into very small pieces.
2. Fry green chilies. In a blender, add soaked tamarind, green chilies, jeera, 2 garlic cloves and cilantro leaves and blend them into a paste. Add 2 tbsp of chopped dondakaya to the blender and blend it coarsely with some salt. Adjust the taste if needed.
3. Take the whole mixture and add it to the finley chopped dondakaaya (Tinodra) pieces. Mix well.
4. Heat oil in a small pan and add mustard seeds, when they crack, add jeera, red chilies, garlic and curry leaves. Sauté until garlic starts to turn light brown on the edges. Add this Popu (tadka) to dondakaaya (Tinodra) pieces mixture and mix well.
5. Serve with steam hot rice and any dal.

Donda mukkala pachadi