Peerkangai Poricha Kootu | Ridge Gourd / Chinese Okra Kootu

Peerkangai Poricha Kootu is a delicious and Vegan kootu / stew made with ridge gourd / Chinese okra and Moong dal and freshly ground spices. A perfect dish with steaming hot rice.

It was almost the end of the harvest season and one of my dear friends, Ranganayaki, gave me two lovely peerkangai / ridge gourds that had grown in her backyard.

After moving from New York, one of the things that we most miss is gardening. We grew almost all our vegetables and it is a big change for us here to buy the basic vegetables. When Ranganayaki gave me this fresh and tender peerkangai, I was overwhelmed with memories and was so ready to cook with them right away.

The only thing I knew to make with peerkangai was thuvayal / thogayal. I did not want to make a simple thuvayal with the garden fresh vegetables and hence called my recipe bank (my mother) and she gave me this recipe of poricha kootu to make.

As I am writing this post down, I am very emotional that my recipe bank no longer exists and I miss her so much. This peerkangai poricha kootu was so simple to make and was loaded with flavors.

All we need is a bowl of steaming hot paruppu Saadham (dal and rice) with a dollop of fresh ghee. Thanks to Ranganayaki for giving me some of her freshly grown vegetables and for giving me an opportunity to try a new recipe with peerkangai. This ridge gourd kootu is my recipe under regional dishes for this week's Blogging Marathon

Preparation time - 10 minutes
Cooking time - 30 minutes
Difficulty - Easy

Ingredients to make Peerkangai Poricha Kootu – (serves 4)

• Peerkangai / Ridge gourd / Chinese Okra – 2
• Moong dal / payatham paruppu – ⅓ cup
• Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
• Jaggery – 1 tsp
• Salt – to taste

To fry and grind –

• Urad dal / Ullutham paruppu – 1 tbsp
• Red chilies – 2 or 3
• Black pepper – ½ tsp
• Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
• Coconut (grated) – ¼ cup
• Oil – 1 tsp

To season –

• Coconut oil (or any preferred oil) – 2 tsp
• Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
• Urad dal / Ullutham paruppu – 1 tsp
• Curry leaves –few
• Asafetida – ⅛th tsp

Procedure to make Peerkangai Poricha Kootu –

• Wash and peel the vegetables. Chop it into ½ inch cubes and place it in a pan. Add washed moong dal to the pan along with the turmeric powder and add enough water to cover the vegetables.

• Cook until the vegetable and the dal is well cooked. You could do this in a pressure cooker as well, but it does not take long on the stovetop. Add salt when the vegetable is almost cooked. It delays the cooking when the salt is added in the beginning.

• Meantime, in a small pan heat 1 teaspoon of oil and fry the urad dal, red chilies, pepper, and cumin seeds until aromatic and light brown. Add the coconut and fry for a few seconds. Let the mixture cool down and then grind it adding little water.

• Once the vegetable and the dal have cooked, add this ground mixture and mix well. Also, add the jaggery and let it come to a boil. Simmer for 3-4 minutes or until the kootu has thickened to the required consistency.

• Season with the ingredients listed above and add it to the ridge gourd kootu. I like to use coconut oil because of its flavor, but you could use any oil.

• Serve the peerkangai poricha kootu hot with paruppu saadham.

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