This recipe uses as filling base the very delicious spice mix from our 3-ingredient peanut-sesame rice recipe. Remember to make this spice mix in a big batch – it can be stored for later use in other dishes.

You Need:

[For 3-4 servings]

• Ridge gourd – 250 grams
• Peanut-sesame spice mix – 2 tablespoons
• Coriander powder – 1 teaspoon [buy here]
• Cumin powder – 1/2 teaspoon [buy here
• Turmeric powder -1/4 teaspoon [buy here]
• Salt – 1/4 teaspoon or to taste
• Oil – ~2 tablespoons, for shallow-frying

Equipment:

• Knife [buy here]
• Vegetable peeler for taking the skin off the ridge gourd [buy here]
• Wide thick-bottomed pan for shallow-frying [buy here]
• Spatula for turning over the ridge gourd while frying [buy here]

The links above are amazon.com affiliate links. The Steaming Pot will earn a small commission if you buy via the links, at no additional cost to you.

How To Make Stuffed Ridge Gourd Cylinders:

1. Peel and slice the ridge gourd

Peel all the skin off the ridge gourd. Slice each ridge gourd into 1.5-2 inch cylinders.

Make a slit in each ridge gourd cylinder vertically – taking care not to slice it all the way through. Keep the end joint intact.

2. Prepare the stuffing

In a bowl, place all the spices: two tablespoons of peanut-sesame spice mix, 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder, 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder, 1 teaspoon coriander powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Use a spoon to blend all the spices and salt together.

3. Stuff the gourd cylinders

Pry open each ridge gourd cylinder gently along the slit.

Beware! Emphasis on “gently” – don’t use so much force that the cylinder snaps into half.

Take a couple of teaspoons of the stuffing spice mix and spoon it into the slit. Close firmly shut and shake off the excess back into the spice bowl.

Continue till all the ridge gourd cylinders have been stuffed.

Don’t worry if you have the filling powder left over. We will use all of it eventually.

4. Shallow fry the gourd cylinders

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a flat thick-bottomed pan on medium heat.

When the oil is hot, place the stuffed ridge gourd cylinders, slit side up, in the pan.

Tip: Don’t crowd the pan. If your pan isn’t large enough to hold all the gourds together without jostling, fry them in batches.

Let the ridge gourd sizzle and brown at the bottom. Once done, turn each gourd at an angle to cook the sides. Drizzle more oil into the pan if needed.

Turn the slit side down at the very end when all the other sides are done.

If you have any left over filling spice, now is the time to sprinkle all of it into the oil.

Let the stuffed gourds stand for a minute, then move them gently to ensure all of the sprinkled filling spice gets cooked.

When the side facing down is done too, switch off the heat.

Stuffed ridge gourd cylinders are ready to eat.

They are great with parathas or on the side of a bigger meal. Serve them on your party spread – this dish leads to conversations aplenty in my gatherings!

Notes:

Try more “party special” veggie recipes:

The post Stuffed Ridge Gourd Cylinders appeared first on The Steaming Pot.

You Need:

• Ridge gourd – 1
• Onions – 2
• Black peppercorns – 20
• Tamarind – coin-sized piece
• Salt – to taste
• Cumin seeds – 1/2 teaspoon
• Oil – 2 teaspoons

In the picture above: Ridge gourd, onions, tamarind, cumin seeds, black peppercorns.

How To Make Ridge Gourd Onion Chutney:

Peel the ridge gourd. Slice horizontally into 1 cm disks, then cut each disk into 1-cm sized pieces.

Peel the onions. Halve the onions from head to root, discard the edges, and chop the onions into 1-cm cubes.

Soak a coin-sized piece of tamarind in a tablespoon of water for 15 minutes. Extract the pulp and discard the seeds.

Heat the oil in a kadhai or skillet. Add cumin seeds and let them splutter for a few seconds. Then add chopped onions and pepper.

Saute on high heat till the onions are golden.

It helps to use a metal kadhai (aluminium or cast iron, in place of a non-stick pan) for cooking this chutney, as the brown of the onions that sticks to the kadhai gives the chutney a great flavor. A little charring is good.

Add the chopped ridge gourd.

Continue to cook on high heat, stirring at regular intervals, till the ridge gourd is soft (about 10 minutes).

Take the pan off the heat and let it cool down for 15 minutes.

Transfer the cooked onion-ridge gourd to a blender, along with soaked tamarind and salt to taste.

Blend coarsely. [This is how I do it in my blender: pulse for 5 seconds, give the insides a stir and pulse again for 5 seconds.]

Transfer the ground ridge gourd and onion back to the pan in which it was cooked.  Stir around and cook for another 5 minutes on high heat, till evenly browned.

Serve ridge gourd onion chutney on the side with any Indian meal.

Notes:

Check out other vegetable chutney recipes…

…and more ways to use the ridge gourd in your meals:

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And so I returned home, ridge gourd package in hand, and typed into Google image search: "long green Indian vegetable with spikes". Google did not disappoint – I found not just the name but also many ways to cook ridge gourd.

My usual go-to recipes for ridge gourd are those I’ve picked from friends – ridge gourd potato curry with poppy seed paste and ridge gourd moong dal. A recent favorite, which I am recreating in this recipe, is chef Harpal Singh Sokhi’s ridge gourd tomato curry.

I had come across this recipe on the TV show Turban Tadka – I can’t trace the source online now and hadn’t taken notes, so I’m not sure how close this recipe is to the original. But it tastes great to me as it is. No elaborate list of ingredients, this recipe relies on just a few intense flavors for its win. This is such a simple, delicious dish that when ridge gourd is in season, I make it almost every other day.

Never too much of this “tomato, ridge gourd nonsense”, I say to the Jathi Rathnalu gang.

You Need:

• Ridge gourd – 2*
• Tomatoes – 3
• Jaggery – 1/2 teaspoon
• Salt – to taste
• Turmeric powder – a pinch
• Red chili flakes – 1 teaspoon
• Mustard seeds – 1/2 teaspoon
• Asafoetida powder – 1/2 teaspoon
• Mustard oil – 2 teaspoons

[*] The size of a medium ridge gourd would be about a foot long and 1.5 inch in diameter. Adjust the quantities in the recipe if using smaller or bigger ridge gourds. Make sure the ridge gourds are firm and fresh – the ones with the sharper ridges are better.

How To Make Ridge Gourd Tomato Curry:

Peel the ridge gourd and chop into bite-size pieces.

Puree the tomatoes.

Heat two teaspoons of mustard oil in a pan. When hot, add mustard seeds and when the splutter, add half a teaspoon of asafoetida powder.

Soon after, slide in the chopped ridge gourd. Sprinkle turmeric powder and red chili flakes.

Fold in red chili flakes and turmeric powder with the ridge gourd, and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes.

Add tomato puree and salt to taste.

Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer covered for 7-8 minutes, stirring once in between.

Uncover, mix jaggery into the curry and continue to cook for another minute.

Serve hot. Ridge gourd tomato curry makes a fabulous meal with chapatis, a simple yellow dal, salad and raita.

Notes:

Also try these curries that play on the flavor of tomatoes…

…and these recipes that make creative use of the ridge gourd:

The post Ridge Gourd Tomato Curry appeared first on The Steaming Pot.

Ridge gourd and moong dal are both very gentle on the stomach, as are asafoetida (hing in Hindi) and lemon, the prime flavorings in this dish. Hing is a strong spice and, I suspect, an acquired taste. If this is the first time you’re cooking with hing, I’d suggest using very little of it. If you like it, use more another time. I do recommend it warmly, especially for its wide array of health benefits.

The best part – this dish can be readied in no time at all. Moong dal cooks quickly even without soaking, ridge gourd takes hardly any time either.

You Need:

• Roasted moong dal – 1 cup
• Ridge gourd – 1, large
• Green chili – 2
• Mustard seeds – 1 teaspoon
• Asafoetida powder – 1/2 teaspoon
• Turmeric powder – 1/2 teaspoon
• Salt – to taste
• Lemon juice – 1 tablespoon
• Curry leaves – 4-5
• Oil – 1 teaspoon (for the ridgegourd) + 1 teaspoon (for the tadka)

How To Make Ridge Gourd Moong Dal:

Pressure cook the roasted moong dal with two cups of water. Cook till two whistles and let the pressure release naturally.

Peel and cut ridge gourd into bite size pieces. Slit the green chilies vertically and deseed.

Heat one teaspoon of oil in a pan. Add the ridge gourd and green chilies, let them cook on medium flame covered for a couple of minutes. The ridge gourd will release water and become soft. At this stage, add the moong dal, turmeric powder and salt. Mix well and cook another 2-3 minutes. Switch off the heat, mix lemon juice and do the tadka.

For the tadka: Heat a teaspoon of oil in a tadka ladle. When smoking hot, add the mustard seeds. They will crackle in an instant. Switch off the heat, drop in the hing powder and curry leaves. Give the ladle a swirl so that the curry leaves release their flavour evenly.

When the crackling subsides (in 15 seconds or so), turn the contents of the ladle gently in to the hot ridgegourd-dal. [Doesn’t the tadka make a lovely sound on contact? :)]

Mix well and serve hot ridge gourd moong dal with chapatis.

Notes:

If you are using asafoetida granules instead of powder, add it before the mustard seeds into the tadka.

Looking for more recipes using ridge gourd? Try this ridge gourd onion chutney, ridge gourd tomato curry.

Interested in other dal-vegetable combinations? Check out chayote squash dal, poi saag toor dal, mooli sambar, pumpkin masoor dal.

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A highlight of this recipe is the interesting combination of potatoes and ridge gourd. Potatoes combine well with several other veggies – cauliflower, capsicum, peas are the combinations I relish most – and now there’s an addition to the list.

You Need:

• Potatoes – 2 large
• Ridge gourd – 1
• Turmeric powder – 1/2 teaspoon
• Salt – To taste
• White poppy seeds – 1 tablespoon [buy here]
• Green chilies – 1 or 2, sliced
• Panch phoron (Bengali five spice mix) – 1 teaspoon [buy here]
• Mustard oil – 1 tablespoon

How To Make Ridge Gourd Potato Curry with Poppy Seed Paste:

1. Before you cook

Soak a tablespoon of poppy seeds in a tablespoon of water, for an hour. Put the soaked poppy seeds in a blender. Make a paste.

In the picture above: Poppy seed paste, potatoes, green chilies, ridge gourd, turmeric powder, panch phoron.

Scrape and cut the potatoes into 1/2-inch cubes.

Peel and cut the ridge gourd into similar-sized cubes.

2. Cook

Heat mustard oil in a pan. Add panch phoron.

The moment the fenugreek seeds begin to turn brown, add the cubed potatoes and sliced chilies.

Cover and cook till the potatoes are half-done.

Add the cubed ridge gourd, turmeric powder and salt. Continue to cover and cook.

Add the poppy seed paste when the potatoes are nearly done.

Cook for another five minutes. Let the vegetables stand for a few minutes.

Ridge gourd potato with poppy seed paste is ready.

Serve with freshly made chapatis or rice.

Meal below: ridge gourd potato curry with poppy seed paste, boiled rice, methi gobhi and fresh onion slices.

Tips and Tricks:

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