I'm not sure what it was but I had made it my goal to turn some of the boring or not so like-able vegetables into something desirable. Maybe it was due to the fact that using the most common vegetables everyday became a little boring after all. So anyways, here I was staying at my friend Swathi's place in Atlanta and saw her making Beerakaya (Ridge gourd) one night for dinner. My first thought was "yikes"! But then, having tasted her other dishes I was confident she was going to turn this into something yummy so I paid close attention to her cooking and learned the dish. I definitely tweaked it to suit my style and thought I would share my recipe here.
Ingredients:
2 Beerakayas peeled and chopped
2 Medium sized onions chopped
1 bunch mint leaves
4 Green chillies chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp masala powder / corriander powder
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 tbsp oil
Salt as needed
Procedure:
1. Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds, green chillies and mint leaves. After 30 seconds, add the chopped onions.
2. Once the onions are translucent, add turmeric powder and ginger garlic paste.
3. Soon after step 2, add the beerakaya pieces, add salt and close the pan for a couple of minutes.
4. The beerarkaya will soften fairly quickly and you may cook it till it softens and till any water produced has evaporated. You may take off the lid once the vegetable has softened/cooked as per your judgement.
5. Finally add the garam masala powder or any other powders you generally like to use.
6. The dish is ready to be served, with rice or roti :)