Padavalanga Parippu Charu/Curry

Onam is here again and it is inevitable that my blog gets adorned with atleast one recipe for the season. I am , as my ex-boss called me NRK - Non Resident Malayalee!! I have spent most of my life in Karnataka and wee bit in Dubai now. I used to look forward to Onam falling on weekends. Only then would I be able to catch all the new movies on Asianet and Surya TV. Vegetarian food was not something I was fond of so sadya was not something that I looked forward to. Occasionally, my sister and I, plucked flowers from my mom's garden and made a small pookalam in our porch. Things changed when I moved to college. With more malayalees, Kerala Kasavu Saree on Onam became a mandate, pookalam a necessity and sadya the inevitable.

I slowly began appreciating the vegetarian delicacies on the leaf and eventually falling in love with them. It took a couple of more years to familiarize with the sadya dishes and the last three onam sadyas have been eventful! Looking forward to another one this year as I post this recipe.

This recipe was shared by my cousin Vinitha - we made it twice so far and the plate was wiped clean!

Here is the recipe for Padavalenga Parippu Charu - 

Ingredients

1. Padavalenga/Snake gourd - 700 gms cubed
2. Toor Dal - 1/2 cup
3. Onions - 1 thinly sliced
4. Green Chilly - 2 slit
5. Ginger - 1/2 tsp grated
6. Garlic - 1/2 tsp grated
7. Coconut - 1/2 cup grated tightly packed
8. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
9. Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
10. Curry Leaves - 2 sprigs
11. Coconut Oil - 1 tbsp
12. Salt to taste
13. Water

For Tempering:

1. Curry Leaves - 2 sprigs
2. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
3. Red chilly- 2
4. Coconut - 2 tsp grated
5. Coconut oil - 1 tbsp

Method

• Wash toor dal in water, drain and set aside.
• Add oil into a pressure cooker. Saute chopped onions, ginger, garlic, green chilly and curry leaves for 2 to 3 minutes.
• To this, add salt and turmeric powder. Saute for another minute before adding the toor dal and snake gourd. Add enough water to just cover the ingredients.
• Cover and pressure cook on high flame for 2 whistles. Let the pressure release before opening the cooker.
• Coarsely grind together coconut, turmeric powder and cumin seeds. Add this to the pressure cooker. Let it boil for another 5 minutes and turn off the flame.
• For tempering, heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds. Once it splutters add grated coconut , red chilly and curry leaves. Fry this till the coconut begins to brown.
• Add the tempering to the curry.