"This is a journey of my life since I was all of 12 yrs when I started my hand in cooking to now with displays of my learning and creations of recipes from around the world. My inspiration and role model has always been my Mum who has always created dishes from around the world and excellently well. I do not believe I would ever match to her culinary skills. I remember the times she could cook and bake almost 4-5 dishes in one go without ever letting one go under cooked or burnt! I was born and raised in Dubai, UAE and recently moved to India for family reasons. Kitchenette just means that over the decades, my kitchen has changed from that of my mum's to my uncle and aunt's, to my home in UAE and now in India. Pala't'te, describes both global cuisines ('Palatte'-diverse flavours) and pleasing diverse 'Palates'."

Tuesday, 12 March 2013

Ridgegourd skin Chutney (Beerakaya Thokkala)

I had watched Masterchef Australia's episode on making use of leftovers to whip up several meals. After being introduced to Ridgegourd, I always wondered how much of waste the skinning away of Ridgegourd was and how little was left of the vegetable. I asked my maid whether they make use of the Ridgegourd skin for anything. I was surprised to know that there was an Andhrite recipe making use of the skin of Ridgegourd. It makes for an excellent accompaniment to flatbread of any kind or rice.
Ridgegourd skin Chutney (Beerakaya Thokkala)

I used the Beerakaya Thokkala with Rice flour Dosas.

You need:

  • Skin of 4-6 ridgegourd. cleaned and finely diced 
  • 4 green chilies
  • 1/2 tsp of mustard seeds
  • 1 tbsp urad dal
  • 2 tbsp chana dal (I avoided this)
  • 2 tbsp of sesame seeds (Til)
  • 1 lemon sized tamarind juice(add the tamarind to hot water and squeeze and take out the seeds/fiber)
  • 1 sprig of curry leaves
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds (Jeera)
  • 5-6 garlic flakes
  • 1-2 dry red chilies
  • 1 tbsp of jaggery
  • 1 tsp salt or to taste
  • 2 tbsp of cooking oil


The make:
Makes about 1 cup of chutney | Preparation Time: 10 minutes | Cooking time: 15 minutes

1. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a skillet on high.

2. Add the cumin seeds, urad dal, chana dal (optional), sesame seeds and fry for about a minute on medium-high and then add the green chilies until the dal turn light brown. Set aside.
Frying the dal, cumin seeds and sesame seeds

3. In the same skillet, add the ridgegourd skins and salt on medium-high. Cover and cook for 2-3 minutes or until the skins are cooked.
Cooking the ridgegourd skins

4. Coarsely grind all the fried  ingredients in an electric grinder and set aside.

5. Next add the ridgegourd skins, jaggery, garlic, salt and tamarind juice to the grinder. Add the ground mix to the fried, ground ingredients.

6. Heat the remaining oil in a pan and splutter the mustard seeds.

7. Next add the curry leaves and red chilis and lightly brown.

8. Next add the ground mix to the pan and mix well. Do a seasoning taste and add more salt if required.
Mixed in ground mix and ridgegourd skins

Serve with flatbreads like roti, chapatti, rice flour dosas or regular dosa. I even tried it with rice and it goes well.
Ridgegourd skin chutney served with Rice flour Dosas


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