Sunday, January 4, 2015

Heerekai Chutney | Ridge gourd Chutney | Thurai Chutney | Beerakaya Pachadi : South Indian Chutney Recipe

Wishing all my readers a very happy and a prosperous new year. Hope you all have a wonderful year.


The first week of  2015 was eventful. We hosted a Vishnu Sahasranama Chanting on 1st Jan at our house. I cooked palahara and the chanting went as planned. The very next morning, I got a call from my sis and bro. They informed me that our grand mom(mom's mom) passed away. I was heartbroken and speechless. I could not control my emotions. I will not write more as I can go on for hours about my relationship with her. RIP ajji is all I say.

Now back to the recipe.

Heerekai Chutney is a very simple and flavorful chutney that can be cooked under 20 mins. And the best part is, you can use the skin of the ridge gourd too for this chutney.

Preparation Time: 3 mins
Cooking Time: 15 mins
Serves: 3-4


Ingredients:
Roughly chopped ridge gourd: 1 cup, with the skin
Green chilies: 3-4 nos, refer notes
Tamarind : 1/2 tsp, tightly packed
Salt: As needed
Turmeric powder: a pinch
Jaggery or brown sugar: 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida: a small pinch
Curry leaves: 3-4 nos, torn
Coriander leaves: 2 tbsp, finely chopped
Water: As needed
Grated coconut: 1/2 cup, fresh or frozen, refer notes

For tempering:
Coconut oil: 1 tsp, refer notes
Mustard seeds: 1/2 tsp
Urad dal | Black gram dal: 1 tsp
Asafoetida: a pinch
Curry leaves: 2 nos, torn


Method:
Add the ridge gourd, green chilies, tamarind, jaggery, curry leaves, asafoetida, coriander leaves, and turmeric to a sauce pan.

Add enough water to cover the vegetables and boil until the vegetables are tender and cooked. Turn off the heat.

Allow the mixture to cool. Once cool, grind it along with the coconut to make a smooth paste.
Scoop out the paste on to a serving bowl.

Prepare the tempering. Heat oil in a small sauce pan. When oil is hot, throw in the mustard seeds. When mustard seeds crackle, add the black gram dal and roast till the dal turns golden brown. Throw in the curry leaves and when leaves wilt, add the asafoetida and turn off the heat.
Pour the tempering over the scooped chutney.
Mix well and serve it with chapathi/poori/rice or roti.



Notes:

  • Instead of fresh or frozen coconut, you could use dry coconut powder that is available at Indian stores.
  • I have used Serrano peppers and Indian green chilies for this chutney. 
  • If you do not wish to use coconut oil, you could use any other cooking oil of your choice.
  • Do not add too much water to cook the ridge gourd. Just add enough water so that you could use the boiled vegetable water for making the smooth paste. In that case, you don't waste any boiled vegetable water which is filled with nutrition and flavor.





2 comments:

Hi,

Thanks for visiting 'Savi-Ruchi'. I would try my best to update the blog with new & interesting recipes.
Hope you had nice time in my blog & feel free to share your comments.
Visit Again!!

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