Ridge gourd Chutney (Peerkangai Thogayal)
A simple chutney made out of lightly peeled ridge gourd. Ridge gourd is also known as peerkangai (Tamil), beerakaya (Telugu), heerakai (Kannada), turai/tori (Hindi). This chutney or thogayal/thuvaiyal as it’s called in Tamil is great with idli/dosa, and with rice.
Servings Prep Time
4-6servings 10minutes
Cook Time
5 – 7minutes
Servings Prep Time
4-6servings 10minutes
Cook Time
5 – 7minutes
Ingredients
  • 1medium sized ridge gourd
  • 1tsp Salt
  • 1tsp oilto cook the ridge gourd
Roast And Grind
  • 1tbsp black gram/whole skinned urad/ulutham paruppu
  • 3-4dry red chilies and green chiliesI add the green chilies, but you can use just the red
  • 1tiny piece tamarindor 1 tsp of tamarind concentrate
  • 1/2tsp oilto roast the spices
To Season
  • 1tsp oil
  • 1tsp Mustard seeds
  • 1/2tsp Hing/asafoetida
  • 1/2tsp black gram/whole skilled urad
Instructions
  1. Lightly peel the gourd after washing, and chop into cubes
  2. Heat oil in a small kadai/pan and saute the vegetable until soft, but not mushy. About 5 minutes. Set aside to cool
  3. In the same oil, roast the ingredients mentioned in the section “To Roast And Grind”, taking care not to burn the chilies. Add the tamarind after turning the heat off. It needs to just warm up slightly to soften
  4. After everything cools, blend the gourd, and the spices without any water. The moisture in the vegetable should be enough to blend
  5. Heat the oil to season. When hot, pop the mustard seeds, and add the hing. Pour over the chutney.
Recipe Notes

In the southern states of India, we make a lot of chutneys that are meant to be mixed with rice and eaten. These are called “thogayal” or “thuvaiyal” and the spices and the lentils mix used to blend them give them a slightly different taste and texture than the chutneys that are made as side dishes for the idli/dosa/vadai family of dishes. These are typically made for a simple meal in the evenings with a side of papads and eaten with rice and a little bit of sesame/gingelly oil or ghee.