Beerakaaya Thokku Pachadi | Ridged Gourd Skin Chutney

Beerakaaya Thokku Pachadi | Ridged Gourd Skin Chutney

Beerakaaya Thokku Pachadi | Ridged Gourd Skin Chutney is sizzling spicy and yum with steamed rice. I am a Sardarni but having been born and lived in Andhra, my taste buds are more attuned to the south Indian delicacies. Andhra is the place of the hottest chilli and the food here is also very spicy. Every meal starts off with a pickle or freshly made pachadi or chutney. I buy beerakaya (called Ridge Gourd in English and Turai in Hindi) only because I want to make this pachadi as the bland sabzi is not what I like. It is a delicious, traditional chutney with the peel. Called Beerakaya Thokku Pachadi or Beerakaya Pottu Pachadi in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, this unique chutney is normally eaten with rice and ghee.

How to make Beerakaaya Thokku Pachadi

Mix a dollop of pachadi with hot steamed rice that is drizzled liberally with ghee; foodporn totally! Beerakaya pachadi only needs a few ingredients like cumin, garlic, green chillies and tamarind to make a paste. Then add the tempering for a fiery feast.

Today I am sharing a unique recipe of tangy, spicy chutney made with the skin of the ridged gourd (which is usually thrown away) which is full of fibre.

As a child, I remember my mom making the pachadi and asking the maid to grind it in the Rubbu rollu or a stone grinder. There is a lot of difference in the taste of the manually ground chutney and the present mixer grinder. We had no electric mixers and everything from idli-dosa batters to chutneys were ground in these stone mortars made of rough, black granite. I never used to eat the Punjabi ridge gourd curry that my mom made but this pachadi would go down well.

The ridged gourd has a coarse skin but yet the pachidi turns out to be smooth and yummy. Up North many do not use ridged gourd even to make curry and here we make this delicious pachadi with the peel.

Andhra pachadis are very famous and my favourite are this Mamidi Allam and Nalleru Pachadis.

If you can lay your hands on some beerakaya or ridged gourd, do try this out. You can thank me later.

INGREDIENTS

Skin of 3 large ridge gourd, wash and peel the skin

2 green chillis

1 tsp cumin seeds

4 flakes garlic

A small marble of tamarind

1 sprig fresh coriander leaves

Rock salt to taste

Few curry leaves

1 tsp oil

For the Tempering

1/2 tsp oil

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp cumin

1-2 dry red chillies

½ tsp split gram dal

2 garlic flakes

Few curry leaves

METHOD

Firstly, heat a teaspoon of oil in a pan, add cumin seeds, green chilies,  coriander leaves, and then the ridge gourd peels.

Next, stir and let it simmer for a few minutes till the skin is cooked. Add the garlic and tamarind before switching off the gas, as it will get softened. You can even soak and make a juice out of it.

Now, remove and keep aside to cool

Subsequently, once cool, grind all the sautéed ingredients along with rock salt to a slightly coarse paste.

Transfer the pachadi to a bowl.

Finally, temper the pachadi. Heat half a tsp of oil in a same pan, add the dal, red chillies, cumin and mustard seeds and let them splutter. Lastly add the curry leaves.

Pour the tempering over the ground Berakaaya Thokku Pachadi | Ridged Gourd Skin Chutney.  Pour a spoonful of ghee on hot steamed rice, mix pachadi in it and devour!