Heerekayi Chutney (Ridged gourd chutney)

The Luffa is commonly known as Ridged Gourd and is called Turai in Hindi, Jhinga in Bengali, Janhi in Oriya, Gisoda in Gujarati, Beerakaya in Telugu, heerekaayi in Kannada, peechinga in Malayalam, pirkanga in Tamil. (Courtesy : wikipedia)

Kannadigas (People from Karntakaka) use heerekayi in preparing dishes like thovve (dal), chutney with the outer skin, chutney with cooked heerekayi, tambli, sambar etc. This vegetable gets cooked fast & tastes good as is. Usually, when preparing dishes using heerekayi, not many spices are added to retain the taste of the vegetable.

Now that I have told so much about this vegetable, it is your turn now to go ahead and try this chutney. You’ll keep licking your fingers for more. This chutney gives out a nice aroma & tastes great with rice.

Ingredients:
1 cup chopped ridged gourd (no need to peel out the skin, use the vegetable as is)
2 tsp urad dal
1 tsp seesame seeds/til/yellu (I use white seesame)
¼ tsp mustard seeds
¼ tsp thick tamarind juice
A pinch of jaggery (this enhances the chutney taste)
Salt according to taste
3 red chillies
½ cup grated coconut
1 tsp oil
A pinch of asafoetida/hing
3-4 chopped curry leaves

Method:

• Add salt, jaggery, tamarind paste, water to the chopped ridged gourd & cook it till the vegetable becomes soft (don’t add too much water as the chutney needs to be kept thick).


• Let the vegetable cool for some time.


• Mean while, add 2-3 drops of oil to a kadai & roast urad dal, seesame seeds & red chilli.


• Mix roasted spices, coconut, salt (if required, as we have added salt while cooking the vegetable), cooked ridge gourd & make a fine paste out of it. (Use the cooked water from the vegetable for grinding).


• Prepare the tempering by adding oil, mustard seeds, curry leaves & hing (in the same order).


• Pour this tempering onto the chutney prepared & serve it with rice.