Thondekai gojju | Sweet & spicy Ivygourd
A spicy, sweet, sour side to go with rice. Quick, easy ivy gourd recipe.
Equipment
- Pressure cooker, optional
Ingredients
- 300 grams Ivy gourd/tindora/tondekai approx 22 ivy gourd
- ¼ cup finely chopped red onions or pearl onions
- ½-1 tbsp jaggery unrefined Indian sugar
- 2 Indian/Thai green chillies adjust to suit your taste
- ½ tsp salt or to taste
- tamarind gooseberry/raspberry sized
For hot oil seasoning/tadka/oggarane
- 2 tsp oil preferably coconut oil
- ¼ tsp black mustard seeds saasive/rai
- ⅛ tsp cumin seeds jeerige/jeera
- 1 sprig curry leaves
- 1 dry red chilli
Instructions
- Soak tamarind in 2 tbsp of water.
- Pressure cook ivy gourd with ¼ cup of water.Note: Pressure cook for 1 whistle. Instant pot-high pressure for 2 minutes, normal pressure release.
- Let the cooked ivy gourd cool down. While it is cooling down, chop onions and green chillies. Grate jaggery if it came as a block.
- Coarsely mash the cooked ivy gourd.
- Add salt, jaggery, slit green chillies, finely chopped red onions.
- Using fingers, mash the soaked tamarind to make it release it's pulp into the water. Add the tamarind juice/pulp into the gojju and discard the fibrous parts that would be hard to chew.
- Mix well and adjust seasonings to suit your taste.
Hot oil seasoning/tadka/oggarane
- Heat oil in a small heavy bottomed pan, on medium heat.
- Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, broken dry red chilli.
- When mustard splutters, add curry leaves.
- Pour oil, along with spices over the gojju.
- Keep covered.
- Mix and serve as a side with rice.
Video
Notes
- Thondekai gojju is served at room temperature, not warm.
- The final flavour profile of this dish should be a balance of sweet, sour, spicy and salty. ingredients can be adjusted to suit your palate.
- To help green chillies release extra flavour, press them with the back of a spoon to crush and mash them into the gojju
- Start with 1/2 tbsp jaggery, taste and add the remaining half. I like it sweet, with one whole tablespoon of jaggery :)
- Use tamarind paste/concentrate instead of dry tamarind.
- Ivy gourd can also be cooked in a pot, without the use of a pressure cooker.
- This gojju can also be prepared using brinjal/eggplant. Roast brinjal until charred. Scoop the meat and use it instead of ivy gourd.
- For extra information about ingredients and substitutes, please check the blog post.