Peerkangai Paruppu Thogayal

Chutneys and sauces are often made with locally available veggies and form an integral part of any cuisine. So, we grew up with lots of thogayals... made of legumes and veggies or herbs, or a combo of these. Most of the time dinners may consist of rice, thogayal, some fryums, and/or gravy curries. Especially in the winter months, these are awesome for the cooler temperatures as the food would be served hot. Every family will have variations in the combination of ingredients for the thogayals (and hence many varieties with different flavors) and the sky is the limit for the recipes when it comes to making thogayals. They taste yum with steaming rice with a dollop of ghee. Also, they can be used with idli or dosa too. 

I harvested the first batch of ridge gourds this year and immediately used it for this thogayal. Every time, I use urad dhal for these kind of chutnies. In many homes, chana dhal is used. Toor dhal is mostly used for parupu (or pappu) thogayal. I used more of toor dhal in this recipe and hence the ridge gourd thogayal has a taste familiar with the family of parupu thogayals. Tasted divine with steaming ghee rice.When you process the vegetable, its enough if you peel the ridges alone. Its is also fine if you completely peel the vegetable. In the Andhra cuisine, they make a chutney out of the peel alone too. 

Fresh Ridge gourd from the plant

Very tender

Ingredients

Peerkangai - 2 cup, small dice

salt - 3/4 to 1 tsp

Toor dhal - 2 tbsp

urad dhal - 1 tbsp

tamarind - 1 tsp

red chillies -5

Seasoning

oil - 2 and 1/2 tsp

mustard - 1/3 tsp

Split urad dhal - 1/3 tsp

Asafoetida - 1/8 tsp

Method

Heat oil in a pan. Add the dhals and the red chillies and fry till golden brown. Keep aside. 

Heat 3/4 tsp oil and add the chopped ridge gourd and saute. 

In about 8-10 minutes, it would have cooked. Switch off add let it cool. Add salt, tamarind, and grind the roasted dhal - veggie mix to a coarse or smooth paste. Transfer to a bowl and cool.

Heat the remaining oil and do the tadka. Add it to the ground thogayal. 

Serve with steaming rice and a dollop of ghee.