Some time ago, I had posted a recipe for ash gourd( kuvaLe ) koddel without coconut . I had also promised to post this version which is very popular among Konkanis from South Kanara.
This recipe is sent to me by my friend Aruna . This a sweetish, spicy, sour gravy. I have tried this many times now. Once I start, I can’t stop eating this. So whenever I cook this, I make a huge batch and go on for 2-3 days. Its that good. I have seen a couple of different recipes for this, but I loved this version very much.
Ingredients: 2 cups big pieces of ash gourd 3/4 cup fresh/frozen coconut 4-5 red chilies 2 green chilies 1/2 tea spn tamarind extract or 3-4 pieces of tamarind 1 tbl spn jaggery A pinch turmeric Salt 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds 4-5 curry leaves 1/2 tea spn rice 1/2 tea spn cumin seeds 1/2 tea spn urad dal 1/2 tea spn coriander seeds 1/2 tea spn sesame seeds
Method: Dry roast cumin seeds, coriander seeds, urad dal , rice and sesame seeds. Roast red chilies. Roast coconut till it turns out slightly brownish. Grind all the spices, chilies, coconut and tamarind to a coarse paste. Cook ash gourd pieces in water along with green chilies, turmeric till they are cooked but not mushy. When they are done, add the ground paste, salt and jaggery. Cook for about 7-8mins. Heat a little oil and add mustard seeds. When they start popping, add curry leaves. Pour this seasoning over the gravy. Serve hot with rice.
Serves : 2-3 Preparation time : 20mins
This is another Konkani dish that I absolutely love. This is sweet, spicy and sour all at the same time.
If you are using the fresh Suran or elephant root yam for this, be very careful while cutting it. These roots are very itchy when they are raw. So do not touch water while cutting it. Apply some thick tamarind juice to hands and then wash hands.
I use frozen suran here. It gets cooked very fast and gets mashed. The first time I tried this here, it turned up into a big paste because I didn’t know they cook very fast. So cook it in microwave for about 5 mins. Do not overcook.
There are more than one ways of making this dish tambude . I love this version with fenugreek( methi ) seeds in them. They give a very good aroma to this dish.
Ingredients: 2 cups surnu/suran 1 tea spn mustard seeds 1/4 tea spn methi seeds A pinch asafoetida A pinch oil A pinch turmeric 4-5 red chilies 1/2 tea spn thick tamarind extract or 3-4 pieces of tamarind 1 tea spn jaggery 5-6 curry leaves 1/2 tea spn coriander seeds Salt
Method: Cook suran . Heat oil and add 1/2 tea spn mustard, asafoetida, coriander seeds, methi , red chilies, turmeric. Fry for a min and grind with tamarind(take care not to burn anything, if you can’t handle all of them at once, fry one at a time). Add to cooked suran , add jaggery, salt and cook. Heat oil, add remaining mustard, curry leaves and add to surna tambude . Serve hot with rice and some dal .
Serves : 2-3 Preparation time : 15-20mins
PS: See the below picture in which most of the suran was mashed because of over cooking. So be careful.
