Heerekayi (ridge gourd) keepuli

This one's a superhit with our family, my hubby's granny who happens to be devarayasamudram iyer makes this dish to soo much perfection and sooo yummy that when made at home we store in the fridge for about 2-3 days and relish it along with rice, chapathi and dosa.

This is the recipe for the one made with heerekayi (ridge gourd), it can be made with greens as well (but make sure you dont use methi leaves).


Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 20-25 minutes
Serves: 7

Ingredients:

1. Heerekayi (ridge gourd) 1 big
2. Grated fresh coconut 1/2 cup
3. Dry red chillies (byadagi and guntur) 5 each
4. Tamarind about a lemons size
5. Jaggery 2.5tbsp
6. Salt
7. Oil
8. Mustard seeds 1tsp
9. Jeera seeds 1tbsp

Method:

1. Wash the heerekayi and scrape its skin a little.
2. In a pressure cooker add the heerekayi, coconut, jeera seeds, tamarind and dry red chillies and cook it for upto 3 whistles.
3. Once the cooker is cooled, transfer the ingredients to a plate and let them cool.

4. Later grind them in a mixer to a fine paste.
5. Transfer to a cooking vessel and keep it on the stove on low flame.
6. let it boil for about 2-3 minutes. Add salt and jaggery at this stage, mix well and let it simmer.
7. Finally heat oil in a kadhai and make seasoning of mustard seeds and dry red chillies.
8. Serve hot with rice, chapathi or dosa.