Beerakaya Thokku Pachadi

I had ‘beerakay’ (Ridge Gourd) from my Garden, vegetables from garden are quiet precious for me and ofcourse organic. I made ridge gourd curry  yesterday and had the left over peeled skin, which I don’t want to waste. So I head out to my garden to see if I can find one more ridge gourd and I do see. So I am all ready to make this chutney (Pachadi).

This is full of fiber, and I don’t want to waste the goodies. This is really a very easy pachadi and goes well with hot rice and a dash of ghee.

My mom always make a curry, a fry and a Pachadi for our meals and I love that combination. I do try to maintain the combination.

When making this pachadi , try to choose the ridge gourd which is not too hard. Peel of all the hard ridges and make the dish with only the skin and a little bit of vegetable flesh (optional)

TIP- Adding tomato will give nice texture and will be little easy to grind. If we do not add tomato,  the chutney will be very hard and more over we need to add water to grind, which reduces the taste.

Ingredients:

• peeled skin of 2 Beerakaya’s /turai/ridge gourd
• ½ cup of Beerakaya/turai/ridge gourd pieces (Optional)
• 1 clove of garlic chopped
• 6 green chilies
• 1 medium tomato
• 1 inch of tamarind (adjust to taste)
• 2 tbsps oil
• Salt as per tasteDirections-

1. Clean the gourds and trim the ends. Peel the skin of Beerakaya/ridge gourd (Discard the hard ridge). Cut ½ cup of berakaya/ridge gourd pieces (optional)
2. Heat oil in a pan, to this add the gourd’s peeled skin, pieces and green chilies. On medium flame cook for about 2 mins.
3. Add chopped tomato and sauté for a min.
4. Add ¼ tsp salt mix it and close the lid. Let it cook for 5 min’s stirring occasionally, till the skin and pieces are fully cooked.
5. Let the mixture cool.
6. In a grinder, add tamarind, green chilies, garlic, cumin, salt and grind it till the chilies and garlic are crushed.
7. Add cooked vegetable mix and coarsely grind to paste.
8. Serve with hot rice and ghee.

Beerakaya/turai thokku pachadi/ridge gourd pachadi