Ridge Gourd/Luffa squash Chutney/ Peechinga Chammanthi/

Today I am going to share with you a simple vegetarian recipe: A special  chutney. We can prepare chutney with different vegetables. Here i used the   Ridge-gourd ,its also known as Luffa squash.

Wiki says the Luffa squash is commonly known as ridge gourd and is called tauri 'توری' in Urdu, "bhol" in Assamese, turai or tori (तोरी) in Hindi, parteek (कारी) in Nepali, jhinga in Bengali, janhi in Oriya, gisoda or turiya in Gujarati, Beera kaya (బీర కాయ) inTelugu, heeray kayi in Kannada, peechinga (പീച്ചിങ്ങ) in Malayalam, dodaka (दोडका) or Ghosavala (घोसावळं) in Marathi, Ghosale in Konkani,Peerkankaai (பீர்கங்காய்) in Tamil, wetakolu in Sinhala, mướp in Vietnamese language, patola in Tagalog, kabatiti in Ilocano, susemi  inKorean, hechima in Japanese, and pitulo in Padang or Minangkabau, gambas or oyong in Indonesian language or koinkon in Yoruba language.

I haven't seen this vegetable in my native place but it is a commonly used veggetable in Karnataka. They prepare lots of different curries using this ridge gourd. When I mentioned about this vegetable, My hus told me that people usually use this one (dried version) for making bath scrubber..not for cooking. Even when I talk to Amma, she also told me about the scrubber. (It is a very natural one and good for the skin too.If you are interested, visit here  to get the details of making the scrubber from this squash).Then I came to know this is one of the popular ingredient for the Kerala Shrimp Curry (Konchu Theeyal) (I will post this recipe soon).

Recently my friend told me about the variety of dishes with this ridgegourd and i saw many varieties from my fellow bloggers too. She told this one is good for chutney as well. So I decided to prepare its chutney for  Dosa . Yea,it taste really delicious as good as the coconut chutney . We really enjoyed having this veg-chutney. I just prepared the potato podimas too. All came together as a nice combination.

It is one of the easy to prepare and tasty dish.About the preparation of this chutney, Usually we have to take out the seed from this veggie for cooking.For this chutney preparation i didn't do it.and also i just added some cashews too. But be careful.do not add more cashews, it will make the chutney so sweet..You can even add the peanut instead of cashews..try both version. 

OK, Let me share the recipe of this tasty chutney.

Ingredients:
Ridge gourd: 1 medium size
Tomato: 1 small
Green chili: 1 no
Cashew nut: 3 nos
Ginger: 1 small piece
garlic: 2 pod
Onion: 1/4 of the medium onion
Tamarind: small piece
salt : to taste
Ground cumin:1/2 tsp(optional)
Coriander leaves: some
For tempering
Mustard seed: 1 tsp
Oil: 1 tbsp
Spilt urad dal:1 tsp
Red chili: 1 no
Curry leaves: 1 sprig
Preparation
Step1: 

• Peel off the Ridge gourd's skin and cut them into medium sized pieces. 
• Cut the tomato into 8 pieces.
• Slit the green chili, Dice the onion and crush the ginger and garlic.
• Chop the coriander leaves

Step2:

• Heat 1/2 tbsp oil in a pan
• Add the cashews followed by ginger, garlic and green chili. Sauté for some time
• Add the Onion,Tomato ,Ridge gourd, tamarind and ground cumin. Don't forget salt.Mix well. Close the Pan and cook the vegetables for 5-7 minutes for medium heat.
• Add the coriander leaves once the veggies cooked nicely. Let the mix to cool (5-6 minutes)

Step3:

• Grind the cooked veggie mix using a grinder or mixer. Make a nice paste. Do not add water. 

Step4: 

• Heat 1/2 tbsp of oil .add the mustard seeds. Once the seeds started spluttering add the split urad dal,red chili and curry leaves..Saute for 30 seconds
• Add the grinded mix to the seasoning .mix well..Add some coriander leaves .

The delicious Chutney is ready to have.Have it with dosa or idly.Here i prepared the potato podimas too .Really a best combination  for Dosa or Idli.Enjoy..

Cook's Tip

• Do not add water for cooking the ridge gourd.while cooking the vegetable itself produce more moisture
• Do not add more tomato  or tamarind.just use a small amount of tamarind
• Cumin gives nice taste if u like u can use it otherwise just discard it.