Peerkangai Milagu Kootu / Beerakaya Kootu / Ridge Gourd in pepper coconut gravy

Peerkangai / Beerakaya / Ridge Gourd is low in saturated fat and cholesterol, high in dietary fibre, vitamin C and other elements in it. The nutritional value of this Ridge Gourd highly helps in maintaining optimum health and weight loss. Both the skin and the flesh inside the vegetable are used in making different dishes. Ridge Gourd can be made as a Dal, Curry or Poriyal , kootu, thogayal, etc., I wanted to make the Kootu variety with black pepper coconut gravy as I hear lots of cough and cold at home.

Ingredients

Fresh Ridge Gourd - 2 Medium Ones

Moong Dal / Payatham Paruppu / Pesara Pappu - 1/2 Cup

Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp

Hing \ Asafoetida - 1 Dash

Salt - To Taste

Sugar - 1 Pinch

Olive Oil - 1 tbsp

Mustard Seeds - 2 tsp

Jeera - 1 tsp

Urad Dal - 2 tsp

Curry Leaves - 1 Stem ( if you have )

For Grinding

Fresh Coconut Flakes - 1/2 Cup

Black Pepper - 2 tbsp

Jeera - 1 tsp

Method

• Peel the skin of the Ridge Gourd and cut the flesh of the Ridge Gourd into small squares.
• Cook half a cup of Moong Dal in a pressure cooker.
• In a thick bottomed vessel, add the Ridge Gourd pieces first. To that, add 1 tsp of turmeric powder, Hing and a pinch of sugar and very little water and allow the vegetable to get steamed and cooked inside.
• Meantime, grind the ingredients in a mixer grinder with little water and keep the creamy black pepper coconut paste ready.
• Open the lid of the vessel and check whether the vegetable is completely cooked. If its done, add the cooked Moong Dal to the vegetable. Also, add the grounded paste and required amount of salt to the vessel.
• Mix everything together and close the lid of the vessel for the Kootu to get cooked and the gravy to get settled with the vegetable.
• When the rawness of the pepper coconut paste goes off, switch off the heat.
• On a tempering pan, add Olive oil first. When it gets heated, add Mustard seeds, jeera, urad dal, curry leaves in order. When it sputters, then pour them over the Kootu and mix well.
• Now the Spicy Peerakangai Milagu Kootu is ready to be eaten with white rice, Rasam Rice or any other rice you like. It can also be eaten with a Roti or chappathi and it tastes very good too...

Variations

You can add more Black Pepper if you want to add more spicyness to the Kootu.

You can substitute Moong Dal with other dals like Toor Dal or Masoor dal in this Kootu.

Tips

Don't add more water while cooking the Ridge Gourd as the vegetable itself oozes out water while cooking.

Try to use fresh coconut in the grinding mixture as it tastes much better than the dry coconut flakes or powder.