Dondakaya Curry

Thursday, January 8, 2009

I searched in Internet to know what this vegetable is called in english and below is the info on how it is called in various Languages

Gherkins, Ivy Gourd, Gentleman’s Toes (English)
Dondakaya(Telugu)
Kovaikai (Tamil)
Tindora/Kundru/Tondli (Hindi / North India)

Dondakaya is abundantly available in india, it grows very fast. Just having one plant will give you 1 to 2 Kgs per week. We use to have just 1 plant at our home and use to give others in our village too. We can use these vegetables in sambar too. Today's recipe is for dry curry. I usually make most of the dry curries by adding the powder made with peanuts and spices. We can make this powder and store for couple of weeks in air tight box and can use for various curries like Dondakaya, Beans, bitter guard, ridge gourd etc.

Here is the recipe

Ingredients
1 pound Kundru washed and sliced according to your choice
1/2 cup onions sliced
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
pinch of asafoetida (optional)
curry leaves (optional)
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
salt to taste
For podi (Powder)
1/2 cup dry roasted ground nuts (pea nuts)
1 tsp Chilli powder
1 tsp coriander powder
3 to 4 cloves of garlic
Method
1) Make a powder of the powder ingredients. Make sure the powder is not too smooth.

2) Heat Oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds, add cumin seeds, asafoetida, turmeric powder and fry for few seconds. Add onions and fry for 3 to 4 mins

3) Add the cut vegetables and cover and cook until they are soft. Now add the powder, salt. Fry for a couple of minutes until the vegetables are coved with powder.