Courtesy: Sivaranjani
Birakaya alias Ridge Gourd. Who likes it? There are many recipes that you can cook with birakaya. My husband loves the curry that my mom in law cooks by adding milk at the end. I think that these curries you cook by adding milk at the end are particularly regulars and famous with us from the coastal part of Andhra.
Well, this one is not from my family, but from a neighbor and a very good friend of mine. We normally trash the peel of Ridge Gourd. I always felt, oh I wish I could make some use of it. As such it’s one of those expensive vegetables. This is another simple recipe which does not take too long to cook. And the best part is the fiber you get from the peel.All you need is:
Ridge Gourd Peel
Potatoes – 1 boiled and diced
Onion – 1 small, chopped
Salt – to taste
Chili powder – ½ tsp
For the Seasoning: Oil - 2 tsp, Urad Dal - 1/2 tsp, Chana / Split Peas- 1/2 tsp, Mustard - 1/4 tsp, Cumin - 1/4 tsp, Curry Leaves.
- Heat oil in a pan and add the ingredients for the seasoning.
- Add the onions, a pinch of turmeric and stir in between till the onion is soft.
- Add the boiled potato pieces and cover with a lid
- Add salt and let it cook for another 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile wash the ridge gourd peel and grind it into a puree. Water can be added if the peel is too dry or not blending well.
- Now, add the puree to the ¾ th cooked potatoes. Sprinkle chili powder.
- Cook till the peel turns into dark green in color.
- You can sprinkle cumin or coriander powder too for an extra flavor.
This goes well with rice, roti and I put in bread and make sandwiches too.
Quick tip: I peel, cut and microwave the potato pieces for 2 mins. As it's just 1 potato, it's time consuming to boil it in an entirely different bowl and more work.
We get the peel only when we cook ridge gourd. And I think it would be boring to eat two curries of the same vegetable on the same day. So, what I usually do is wash the peel, dry it and wrap it in a tissue and put it in the refrigerator. Normally, the peel stays up to a week without spoiling.
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dang, you also cook!!!!
ReplyDeleteYes dear, I do. Not like a COOK cook though...:) something eatable and edible for everyday life...:) thank u for the comment. This is first comment I received for my cooking...so, really happy..:)
Deleteyou can cook beerakaya bhajji,thats yummy mommy dish.
ReplyDeletebhajji means mashed.
ridge gourd
onions
tomatoes
salt
olive oil
curry leaves
green chillies
first add olive oil in a container,add chopped onions,more chopped tomatoes , curryleaves and heat it till onions becomes golden yellow.later add chopped ridge gourd and mix them thoroughly for 2mins,later add vertically chopped chillies and enough water for ridge gourd to get cooked.keep the lid on container till ridge gourd becomes soft.once it becomes soft,then add salt and mash the soft ridge gourd curry with a pappu gutthhi(wooden ladle) while it was on stove.now mix the whole stuff for 2mins and take it out.
its amazing with rice and chapati.
OH ok...never heard of it..sounds interesting..will try it next time..Thank you for the recipe and thanks for dropping by :)
Deletehey,you can try same with bendakaya aka okra bajji.these are dishes from kurnool.you can cook ridge gourd without tomatoes but okra need more tomatoes.
ReplyDelete