Ridge gourd/Peerkankai chutney

This is a vegetable that I’ve never seen in my hometown in India. But, when we moved to Chennai, the vegetable shops had this particular vegetable – peerkankai – that I found to be particularly strange. Since I always like to try to cook different things, I really wanted to find out what it tasted like. One time, my neighbor said, she made peerkankai chutney for idly. She told me how to use the peerkankai, which I still remember. I asked her a lot of questions about how to cook the vegetable, as well as which parts of the vegetable to use. Hopefully, the pictures below are helpful for the first-time users of peerkankai.

Ingredients

Peerkankai ———————- 1
Grated coconut ————— 1/4 cup
Urad dal ————————– 2 tbsp
Dry chilies ———————- 6
Garlic cloves ——————- 2
Ginger —————————– 1 small piece
Tamarind ———————— 1 small piece
Cumin seeds —————— 1 tsp
Salt to taste

For seasoning

Dry chilies ——————- 2
Cumin seeds —————- 1 tsp
Urad dal ———————— 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves —————- 1 spring
Cooking oil ——————- 1 tbsp

How to make

Wash the peerkangai and remove all the ridges
Take all the outer layer (skin) from peerkangai

Place a heavy pan on the stove in medium heat
Add oil, urad dal, dry chilies, garlic cloves, ginger, tamarind and cumin seeds
Once the urad dal turns light brown, add the peerkankai skin and saute for 5 minutes

Add the grated coconut
Mix it well and saute for one more minute

Now switch off the stove and wait for it to cool down
Once it cools to room temperature, grind it into a medium fine paste

Now transfer it into a serving bowl and do the seasoning
For the seasoning
- Heat oil in a small pan
- Once it is hot, add dry chilies, cumin seeds and curry leaves
- Pour this into the peerkankai chutney