Tomato Ash Gourd Chutney

Hello everyone. I bring a new recipe with me. Something unheard of but turns of great! who knew.

This idea came from my mom, she just had a casual dinner with my dad and told me about ash gourd (boothkumblakayi) chutney. She told it was very sour but that didn't stop me from thinking in that direction.

So I came up with some simple and basic ingredients which worked. Be careful though, ash gourd has very delicate  taste and cannot take much of heat or sourness. So I have barely added one green chili and little bit of tamarind paste. In case the tomato you use is too sour, you can entirely skip the tamarind. I am sure these two ingredients are available everywhere so please try it and do let me know how it turned out for you.

You need to use it the same day as the taste changes drastically after 9-10 hours. Best is to use it immediately. Since its mild, Use it with something spicy like nucchinunde (spicy lentil balls) or Adai dose.

Serves: 2

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1/8 Ash gourd cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1 tomato seeded and chopped roughly
• 1 green chili
• 2 tbsp coconut grated
• 1/2 tsp tamarind paste
• Salt as needed
• 1 tsp oil
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• A pinch of hing
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 dry red chili
• 1 cup water

Method:

• In a sauce pan add a cup of water and bring it to boil. Add the ash gourd pieces, salt, tamarind paste and cover and cook for about 10 minutes on high to medium high.
• In a mixer grinder, add the cooked ash gourd (after draining water), tomato, grated coconut and green chili. Grind it without any water into a fine paste. Check for salt and mix well.
• For tempering use a small spatula add oil and heat. Once hot add mustard seeds, hing and cumin seeds, after hearing couple of splatters add in the red chili and switch off the stove. Enjoy!