Having moved to a place where snake gourds are rarely available, I almost jumped at the sight of the board in the supermarket, proclaiming that what lay in the basket under it was snake gourds. I wouldn’t have recognized it had it not been for the board. I almost grew up on a diet of snake gourd. My Mom would prepare it almost twice a week. The snake gourds that I ate were a light green color and what I was now examining was striped in dark green. Doesn’t matter I said, it’s a slight variation of the vegetable. I set about making my favorite curry, Podalangai Poduthuval (Snake gourd curry) as it’s called in certain parts of South India, and ate it with great relish. I make a slight deviation to the traditional method by adding roasted peanuts and cumin.
Ingredients
- ¼ kg snake gourd
- 3 tbsp coconut (when grated)
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 tbsp roasted peanuts
- 1 green chili
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- Curry leaves- 1 string
- 1 tsp oil
- Salt to taste
- 2 pinch turmeric powder
Method:
- Chop the snake gourd into small pieces
- Grind the coconut, cumin seeds, peanuts, green chili and keep it aside
- In a pan heat some oil, add mustard seeds
- Once it crackles, put the curry leaves and sauté for 1 few seconds
- Put the chopped snake gourd pieces, salt, turmeric and some water
- Close the lid of the pan till the vegetable cooks well
- Add the coconut paste and stir again for a few minutes till the vegetable absorbs the flavor of the coconut
- Serve hot with rice and sambar/rasam
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Serves: 2