Ridge Gourd (Peerkangai) Chutney

Ridge gourd has been my favorite vegetable since my childhood days. We always had ridge gourd (shorter variety) growing in our home garden.

Ridge gourd matures very fast and so if you do not harvest it at the right time, it becomes unpalatable and we used to leave it for seeds.  Somehow we would always end up with a lot of these ripened, dried ridge gourds that we used to break open, remove the skin and the seeds (to be saved for next season).  The remnant fiber is a great natural scrub for body cleansing.  I still remember my younger days where I used to just wear komanam (langodu) and take a cool bath under the shady trees (or in a nearby river) with a Lifebouy soap scrubbing my body so hard with this ridge gourd sponge!  The cool car wash shower in my home is no match for that blissful bathing experience I would say!

I enjoy ridge gourd in all dish forms – sambar, kara kolambu, in crab/ shrimp curries, kootu, porial, and also as chutney! My mom used to make this awesome ridge gourd chutney with the ridge gourd skin, but my friend from Dallas mentioned that we can also add the flesh part. These days I use the whole vegetable (skin and flesh) to make this yummy chutney.

My mother-in-law made this awesome ridge gourd chutney today, we enjoyed with idli and dosa.

If you have never made this chutney, what are you waiting for now?  Go and make this awesome chutney and see how great it tastes!

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Peerkangai (Ridge Gourd) Chutney

A mouth watering and healthy chutney made with ridge gourd, red chilies, urad dal, coconut and other spices.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Indian

Keyword Chutney, Vegetable Chutney

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 4 people

Author Senthil Sadasivam

Ingredients

For sauteeing

• 1 Ridge Gourd chopped
• 3 Red chilies
• 3 tbsp Urad dal
• 1 Onion chopped
• 1 Tomato chopped
• 4 tbsp Coconut grated
• 1/4 inch Ginger chopped
• 4 cloves Garlic optional
• 1 tbsp Tamarind juice
• Salt to taste
• 2 tbsp Sesame oil

For tadka

• 1/2 tbsp Mustard seeds
• 1/2 tbsp Urad dal
• 2 Red chilies
• 2 sprig Curry leaves
• Hing
• 1 tbsp Sesame oil

Instructions

1. Wash and clean one tender ridge gourd. Using a vegetable peeler, just peel a little bit of the ridges. There is a thick nerve (or fiber) that runs along the ridges and it can be prominent if the ridge gourd is not that tender but remove it anyway. Cut into small cubes.

2. Take a wide pan, pour sesame oil, when it is hot, fry the red chilies, followed by the urad dal till it is browned and gives out a nice aroma.

3. Add onion, salt (adding salt with onion accelerates the sauteeing process), fry for few minutes, add tomato, sauté well, then add the ridge gourd pieces and saute them well too by frying for about 5 mins or so, followed by grated coconut and ginger pieces. After adding coconut and ginger, just sauté for couple of mins, that is enough. 

4. Add tamarind juice, mix well, adjust salt level if needed and switch off the flame and let it cool for about 10 mins and then grind this in a mixie to a slightly coarse consistency.

5. Finish it off with tadka (mustard, red chilies, urad dal, curry leaves, hing).

Recipe Notes

• You can also do lazy tadka for this chutney (technique learned from my wife): just do the tadka in the beginning followed by the sautéing and grind it with the chutney. No need to repeat the tadka at the end. Lazy tadka saves time when you are in a hurry. It not only saves time, as the tadka ingredients are ground (including mustard), it gives a nice taste to the chutney. I add lots of curry leaves whenever I do lazy tadka and because we grind the tadka, all curry leaves are eaten rather than being thrown away (added health benefit).
• Urad dal and coconut give body to this chutney.
• You can also add garlic (optional).