It is a rather pretty vegetable; dark green, ridged (duh!) and tapering. Ridge gourds are well beloved in India, atleast the region I come from (they are called "dodka" in Marathi), and I love ridge gourd cooked into a tasty peanut curry. However, ridge gourds are not native to the US so I have to look for them whenever I go to the Indian grocery store. Today I decided to cook the beauties I bought last week.
The first step is to wash and peel the ridge gourds, and to cut them into chunks like so...
The rest of the vegetable preparation is very simple, perfect for a weeknight.
RIDGE GOURD SUBZI
serves 2-3
4 ridge gourds, peeled and diced
1 onion, diced
1 potato, diced
4-5 curry leaves
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp red chili powder
1/4 tsp cumin powder
1/4 tsp coriander powder
1/4 tsp garam masala
1/4 cup roasted peanut powder
1 tsp jaggery (or brown sugar)
1 tsp tamarind paste
Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, when they sputter, add curry leaves and onion. Stir till onion is transluscent. Add turmeric, salt, chili powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, garam masala and stir for a few seconds. Add ridge gourd and potato and stir for 2 minutes. Add a cup of water, peanut powder, jaggery, tamarind paste and let simmer on medium heat till potatoes are tender and curry is thickened. Garnish with cilantro. Serve with rotis or yogurt-rice.
Recipe and pictures look great, Nupur.
ReplyDeleteI do miss Indian vegetables as we have to travel for atleast 60 miles to shop at an Indian store. ha.. life in small town USA.
Thanks for visiting Indira! I do love trying new veggies that are available here, but its exciting to make a monthly trip to the Indian store and get baby eggplants, fenugreek leaves, and ridge gourd. I hope a little Indian store opens near you!
ReplyDeletehi nupur, trust you to make even mundane 'gilki' bhaji look [and taste] so exotic. great !yoma.
ReplyDeleteHey yoma
ReplyDeleteIt become quite exotic when you have to ride a subway for 30 minutes to buy the vegetable!
BTW I did not know you called it "gilki", I only know it as "dodka"
Hello, I do not know what peanut powder is. Can one substitute unsweetened peanut butter or something else? Thanks and I like your recipes.
ReplyDeleteHi Laurel,
ReplyDeletePeanut powder is nothing but regular roasted peanuts that are ground to a powder in a coffee/spice grinder or a food processor.
Peanut butter sounds like it would make a perfectly acceptable substitute. In fact it would make the curry creamier!
If you are unable to find ridge gourds, do substitute zucchini, it should work great. Thanks for stopping by :)
Nupur- I have tagged you for the cook next door meme. The questions are in my blog. I am waiting to see what you think.
ReplyDeleteHai Nupur, Hope you post misal's recipe for your M cooking.
ReplyDeletewow, i was looking for a dodka bhaji recipe and ran into this one! i think my mom also makes the bhaji like this. i was going to call her for it but thought should type in 'dodka' in google and came to this. thanks, i will try it out this week!
ReplyDeletei made this bhaji and it turned out awesome. i also saw your photographs on flickr. how appteizing? you seem to be a meticulous cook (and photographer!) thanks for posting the recipe.
ReplyDeleteHi Shailesh, thanks for trying the recipe...I am glad it worked out for you :) I have made it dozens of times, so it is a reliable and simple recipe.
ReplyDeleteGlad you like the pictures :) Just trying to share my love of good food with the rest of the world...
Dear Nupur:
ReplyDeleteThanks for being "out there."
You look like one enthusiastic cook, like me! I really appreciate this recipe for ridged gourd; hopefully, I will make it soon! I just "met" the ridged gourd myself--bought one last week from the Indian market in Mahal Plaza (Clearwater). I can see why you Indian folks love them--great vegetable. Thanks again.
{Vickie}
If it wasn't for the word "Dodka", I wouldn't have found this website via google. Awesome!!, Thanks for writing the recipe in detail. My dish is simmering right now...
ReplyDeleteInspired by you... i prepared my ridgegrouds at last... here's the recipe
ReplyDeletehttp://luvbitesforall.blogspot.com/2006/05/ridgegourd-veggie.html
Try putting whole red chillies instead of red chilli powder, and avoid the garam masala and coriander powder altogether. Try putting just cumin powder a little more. How you cut the gourd also changes the taste. Cut thinner longer pieces instead of bigger rectangular or square pieces.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI liked your recipe. Looks wow! Just one question - will it not be better if the skin is no so much peeled from the ridge gourd? I remember my Aai making it "bharaleli dodki".
regards,
Sneha
Hi Sneha, you make a good point: yes, for most vegetables, it is certainly preferable to leave the skin on- tastier and more nutritious that way.
ReplyDeleteThe reason I peeled the skin here is that the ridge gourds I buy here are not tender at all. The skin is as tough as leather and quite inedible. That is why I remove it.
Hi Nupur,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing this recipe with us. I was looking for this type of recipe for Ridge gourd for ages, couldn't find any nice ones. Now I'm really happy to see this, gonna try it today. I wanted to have Ridge gourd for such a long time and Finally found some in the Indian shop near me, in London.
HI nupur...
ReplyDeleteUr preparation is really good...u can also try this veg...by adding WHEAT FLOUR DIYA SHAPES..(IN MARATHI CALLED AS KANKICHE DIVE)..MADE IN SHAPE OF DIYAS 4M DOUGH SAME U PREPARE 4 ROTIS.
Thank you sooooooooooooooo much for sharing this recipe.My husband is very fond of peanut based curries.I made it yesterday n he just loved it.And had asked me to thank you :).I had never thought that ridge gourd can be made this way.But i surely loved it.And i love your site.Good work.Keep posting such easy n tasty recipes.Looking forward to many more of them.
ReplyDeleteI tried a variant of this recipe today and it turned WOW !!! Ive always liked Dodka curry (back home we called it Dodkyachi Bhaji) and Dodkyachya Salachi Chutney ( Chutney using the skin of Dodka).
ReplyDeleteInstead of Peanut, I used Split Moong (Its the Green Moong, without Skin and Halved). I added a small tomato to it, instead of using Tamrind.
You can use Maharshtrian Garam Masala or for giving it a different taste, today I used Manglorean Bafat Masala (Its more spicy).
The cooking instructions were similar to yours, I like the skin on as I dont like it too mushy.
we r a group of male students living in uk......n we have to find new stuff every week cause we r quite tired of eating regular chicken, meat, n potatoes.....thank u for your nice Dodka Bhaji.....we all relished it.........!!
ReplyDeleteHi Nupur
ReplyDeletethank you very much for the recipe, just loved it! addition of peanut powder imparts a distinct flavour to the subji. I also added a little maharashtrian garam masala as Raj Gondhali has suggested, which also enhances the taste of subji.
Liked the recipe. Going to try tonight. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat blog! Thanks, Nupur! :D
ReplyDelete