Tale of two Beerakaya ~ One being the Beerakaya Kura or Ridge gourd curry!

It all started with hubby dear coming home with two long Ridge gourd! Now what would one do at that point you tell. Ok you may not know the background story right. Its the same old complaint that its the same old veggies at the market and nothing new to create a new dish. Rather we end up buying the same old veggies. Well hearing such complaints just before leaving, am sure offsets anybody. And hubby dear is no different, I tell you. He got fed with us complaining that he never gets anything different apart from the radiant carrots or the lean mean bean or the stout cabbages or the plum tomatoes or the pungent onions. I guess that's about makes it a whole lot right.

Anyway on this occasion, he said he will come with something different. And different it was, cos Ridge gourd is not something that I cook often. More so after he started complaining that I make it so bland. Am sure my hubby dears penchant for spicy food is well known by now. So lest I overlook at that aspect, he reminds me quite often that my Beerakaya Pappu is not what he calls his cup of dish in this case! Actually that's the second tale, infact.

Let me first tell the first one please. When we realized that hubby dear cannot digest pappu, we decided its going to be the kura! You know right, Kura gets beautified with ginger garlic paste and other assorts of spices, not to mention you either have the option of highlighting it with coconut pate or ground nut powder. True to my genes, I prefer groundnut powder anyways. It was quite surprising that this kura went into oblivion after a while. We completely stopped cooking this at home, all maybe because hubby dear had no love more hate relationship with this vegetable.

Now he finally comes home with not one but two of them. That for sure is an overdose I tell you. I have not one, but two different ways to cook those delicate darlings. Surprise surprise, both were not featured here. Is that God sent or what! So you get to see or read the first tale, second one follows a while!

Ingredients Needed:

Ridge Gourd / Beerakaya - 1 medium
Onions - 1/2 medium
Tomatoes - 1 medium
Chili powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder a pinch
Roasted Groundnut powder -1 - 2 tsp

For tempering:

Curry leaves + mustard seeds, urad dal
Oil - 1 tsp
Salt to taste

Method to prepare:

Grate the outer skin of the vegetable. The outer skin can be made into a Beerakaya pachadi

Wash and then Chop into 1' pieces.

Heat a pan with oil, add the mustard, urad dal and curry leaves. fry for 1 min.

Then add the chopped onions, sauté, then add the tomatoes along with spice powders and salt. Fry till tomatoes are little mushy.

Add the chopped ridge gourd, fry well. Add required water. Cover with lid covered and simmer for 10 - 15 mins. The ridge gourd gets cooked easily enough.

Check in between. Once done, remove lid and add the groundnut powder and bring to boil. You can remove when it reaches a thick consistency enough to be served with chapatis.

This goes well with rice too. I blogged the pachadi a year back and getting back to post this kura only now!

Enjoy this and hope you will be back to hear the tale of the two Ridge Gourd! Till then have a great week ahead.