Kovakkai oorugai / Dondakaya pachadi / Tindora or Indian ivy-gourd pickle

 

One more invention in my culinary journey :). It all started just yesterday.  I was looking in the fridge and found few kovakkai. They were very less for making a dish. I donno what to do with them. Then I thought of pickling them. I am seeing many of my blogger friends preparing nice pickles and I wanted to make one too. Kovakkai is very crispy, delicious to eat even when it is raw and it doesn't have any strong smell or taste. The only thing it lacks for making a delicious pickle is the sour taste. But it doesn't matter because lemon juice could do the magic. Thus started the idea of pickling kovakkai and you won't beleive, it turned out to be a very yummy and crispy pickle.  I have finished half of the pickle just by eating them like a salad. 

The crispiness of kovakkai is the highlight of this pickle. Even raw mango looses its crispiness when pickled but kovakkai remained very crispy and fresh in the lemon juice, mustard-fenugreek powder gravy. Friends, do try it. You will definitely love it. The preparation is also very, very easy. The below picture is taken immediately after making the pickle and the second picture is taken today morning. You can see that the kovakkai have shrunken in size and totally immersed in the gravy.

 

Ingredients :

Kovakkai / Tindora- 12 nos

Mustard- 1 tspn

Fenugreek seeds- 1/4 tspn

Lemon- 2 nos (medium sized)

Garlic- 5 pods (thinly sliced)

Green chillies- 4 nos (slit longitudinally)

Chilli powder- 1 tbspn ( or as per your taste)

Turmeric powder- a pinch

Asafoetida powder- few pinches

Mustard seeds- 1/2 tspn

Curry leaves- 10 leaflets

Oil- 4 tbsons

Salt to taste

Method :

Cut kovakkai as shown in picture. Slice the garlic pods. Squeeze the lemons and take out the juice. Fry mustard and fenugreek seeds in a pan until the fenugreek turns brown in colour. Now dry grind the fried mustard and fenugreek into a coarse powder. Heat oil in a pan. When the oil gets heated add mustard seeds. When they splutter add the curry leaves and garlic pieces. Saute well until the garlic browns. Now switch off the stove and to the hot oil add chilli powder, mustard-fenugreek powder, turmeric and asafoetida powder. Saute for a few seconds. Take care not to burn them. In the mean time add the squeezed lemon juice and enough salt to the kovakkai and slit green chilli pieces. Now transfer the entire hot temepered mixture to the bowl containing kovakkai. A very tasty pickle which goes very well with curd rice will be ready.

Taste enhancing tips for this recipe : Select only the kovakkai which are very firm and crispy. When tempering take care not to burn any ingredient. Wait for a day (if you can) before using the pickle. I have used only 12 kovakkai. If you use more adjust the ingredients according to your requirement.  Use green chillies along with kovakkai for that nice, green chilli smell. Green chilli adds a lot of flavour. Salt, oil and chilli powder should be used leniently to keep them preserved. I think they will stay  for a few weeks if you keep them refrigerated. Happy cooking !!!

Rhubarb pickle

 

It is my invention. I am not sure whether this vegetable (?) is available in India. When I came to Germany I used to watch these sticks with wonder. What for they use it was the question in my mind. One day my labmate bought a cake. It was sour because of a particular ingredient in it. I enquired her about it. Then she showed me in internet the picture of this and she explained about Rhubarb. She said they used to make jams and cakes out of it. Then with the help of wikipedia I learnt about these sour stalks. One day I bought them and tasted it. They are very sour. Naturally I thought about pickles. If it is this sour how about pickling them. Thus this rhubarb pickle was born. Once I prepared it I can't beleive how tasty it is. Definitely they have a wonderful taste equal to gongura. Rhubarab has laxative and astringent properties.These rhubarb petioles have lots of oxalic acid like gongura and hence the sour taste. If you are a person suffering with arthritis problem or kidney stones this is not for you. 

Ingredients :

Rhubarb- 3 nos

Garlic- 6 pods

Chilli powder- 3 tspns 

Turmeric- 1/2 tspn

Fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds and jeera seeds- 1 tspn each

Dried red chillies- 4 nos

Curry leaves- few leaflets

Asafoetida- a pinch

Salt to taste

Oil- 3 tbspns

Method :

Cut rhubarb petioles into pieces. When cutting them remove the fibrous outer covering. Then boil the pieces in half-a-cup of water. Rhubarb has lots of water content. So when it is boiled it immediately becomes paste like as shown in picture. Now heat a pan. Add oil. When the oil gets heated add fenugreek seeds. When they turn brown add mustard and jeera seeds. After they splutter add curry leaves, red chillies and garlic pieces. Fry for few seconds. Now add few pinches of asafoetida, red chilli powder and turmeric powder to the hot oil. You have to be very quick at this stage. Do not allow the chilli powder to get burned. Immediately add the rhubarb paste. Then add enough salt (it takes a lot of salt since it is very sour). Now stir continuously until oil seperates out. Tatsiest pickle, goes very well with rice, idlies (hmmm...) dosa and even chappathis. 

Taste enhancing tips for this recipe : For me without garlic no pickle is complete. Take care not to burn the chilli powder. Adding chilli powder directly to the hot oil imparts a nice aroma to the pickle. Taste it, you will love it!!! Happy cooking and have a wonderful weekend!!!