Ridge gourd kootu - Peerkangai kootu recipe

Ridge gourd recipes are a good accompaniment for rice, chappati, idli, and dosa. 

Ridge gourd kootu and thogayal go well with rice, whereas Ridge gourd curry made with moong dal goes well with chappati, idly and dosa.

Here we see how to prepare ridge gourd kootu, as a side dish for rice.

Ingredients: 

Ridge gourd - 1 medium sized

(Cut into cubes - 1 cup)

Moong dal - 4 or 5 tsps

Coconut - 1/4 cup

Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp

Red chili - 1 or 2Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Asafoetida - a pinch

Coconut oil - 2 tsps

Salt to taste

Curry leaves

Preparation:

Remove the ridges and cut ridge gourd into cubes. Let it be a little bigger in size. If chopped finely, it gets mashed.

Pressure cook moong dal.

Grind coconut, cumin seeds and red chili to a paste.

In a vessel, add ridge gourd, turmeric powder, salt, and a little water. Let it cook in a slow flame. It cooks quickly.

Now add cooked moong dal. Stir well. Then add the ground paste and curry leaves. Stir well.

Finally, in a tadka pan, add coconut oil, splutter mustard seeds, then add asafoetida. Pour this over the kootu.

Peerkangai kootu is ready.