Beerakaya pachadi
May 13th, 2009 | By Sowjanya | Category: All Recipes, Chutneys & Pachadis, Veg - Recipes
Hubby dear always pokes fun at me that half the years of my marriage were spent cooking in the kitchen. No exaggeration but may be he is true. I adore cooking. Inspite of all that boasting, lately I’ve been going thru this “Stay away from kitchen” phase. I think It might be a seasonal thing for all of us not wanting to spend hours in the kitchen cooking and cleaning. That’s what has been happening over the last few days at home. Some day its just a pizza delivered at the door step and the other day a frozen food ready to eat. Whatever it may be I’m just having my own happy time not going into the kitchen right now. But just so I do not starve hubby dear out, I decided to fix up something fast and made beerakaya pachadi. I love the mild sweet taste of this vegetable always. Loads of fibre, low in saturated fat and cholesterol above all a tasty and easy dish to whip up. Eat it with steamed rice and a dollop of ghee accompanied by a stir fry or papad and that’s what I call “Match made in heaven” 🙂 Here’s how we cook it….
Ingredients:
2 beerakaya/ridge gourds (about 3 cups) – Wash and cut into bite sized pieces along with skin
2 tbsps cooking oil
1 tbsp minapappu (split urad dal)
1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
5 dried red chillies (adjust)
1 tsp dhaniyalu (coriander seeds)
1 tbsp nuvvulu (sesame seeds) – roasted on low flame till golden brown and set aside
Salt to taste
1 small lime sized tamarind
For popu/tadka/tempering
1 tsp minapappu (split urad dal)
½ tsp avalu (mustard seeds)
½ tsp jeera (cumin seeds)
8 to 10 curry leaves
pinch of inguva (hing/asafoetida)
1 tsp cooking oil
How to:
- In a vessel, heat 1 tbsps of cooking oil. On low flame fry minapappu till the dal turns light gold/red in color. Add jeera, dried red chillies, dhaniyalu and fry for a few seconds (about 30 secs). Turn off the flame and set aside to cool.
- Meanwhile in another vessel, heat 1 tbsp of oil and throw in the chopped beerakaya pieces and cook on medium flame for 8-10 mts or till the rawness of the vegetable goes away. Turn off the flame and allow to cool.
- Once cool, grind the dals fried in step one along with roasted sesame seeds till coarsely ground. Then add the cooked ridgegourd pieces, salt and tamarind and grind.
- For the tempering, heat 1 tsp of oil in a pan. Add minapappu and let it turn golden brown. Throw in the mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Let them splutter. Add curry leaves, hing and saute a few seconds. Pour the tempering on the ground pachadi.
- Serve hot with steamed rice and a stir fry of your choice or fried papads.
Note: Â For a variation, add about 3 tbsps of freshly chopped coriander leaves at the end (after the ridge gourd pieces are cooked), mix well. Turn off the flame and allow to cool before grinding. This gives a herby flavour to the pachadi and tastes as delicious as the original version.
HMMMM yummy pachadi..looks very delicious and tasty 🙂
Looks great! Healthy chutney too…..will try it for sure
I was planning to make this tomorrow… nice color… I make it a lil different!!!
CUte greenish pachadi…looks delicious!
I know ,I know what do u mean by Stay away from kitchen, i personally go thru this phase very often ,esp. on weekends .But then i do feel guilty about all those home deliveries and then get back in action, too vigorously ,knowing that i am soon going to go back in stay away mode…lol
The pachadi is new to me, but it surely sounds great
🙂 you just stole my words alka. Thats what happens to be all the time. Staying away from the kitchen and feeling guilty later for all the bad food I ate forgetting about diet LOL.
rekha, priya,sharmilee, ramya..
So nice to see your comments. Let me know how you liked it if you happen to try.
pachadi looks so mouthwatering so beautiful pic.
Hey .. Thanks a lot for the amazing recipe .. I love this pachadi … never knew how to make it .. i strictly followed the instructions and got an awesome pachadi made. Thanks again for posting it. -Suhasini
Hi Suhasini,
I am glad you liked the recipe. Thanks for trying it out and taking the time for dropping by your words.
Hi sowjanya, I do the same thing too.
I keep cooking all the time, and invite every body over.
I feel happy serving, but my husband’s really goes crazy at me, yelling cause I barely spend with him.
And these days I started making Italian, and Chinese and American.
Cause he just loves other food compared to Indian.
Even though he is still upset, with my behaviour as I keep discussing about the food I made and how I made.
My pantry is never empty( he he)
” and the recipe is just great, and the way you presented is real casual and very neat”
Thanks. Have fun
googled for this recipe online and found yours . Tried it and it tastes yummy…felt like leaving you a message for thanking you and your mom for this yummy recipe.
Hi Sowjanya,
I tried this Recipe..Its really very tasty..I and my husband liked it very much..Thanks for posting.