Ridge Gourd Chutney

Do you know you can prepare a healthy, wonderful chutney with the outer hard layer of Ridge Gourd vegetable? Most of you must be throwing away it as a waste.

Ridge Gourd is a healthy, green vegetable with rich fiber content. Most of us generally prepare curries with it. But, we need to peel off the hard outer layer (skin) of it before preparing the curry. While this procedure is okay for the curry recipes, you are missing the benefits of the nutrients received through the peeled-off skin. But, there is a nice way of utilizing the outer layers of it if you become aware of how to prepare a tasty and spicy chutney recipe with those discarded parts of the skin.

How to Prepare Ridge Gourd Chutney

Whenever you prepare the ridge gourd recipe, after peeling off the outer skin, you can prepare the chutney besides that curry recipe. If you are eating ridge gourd often, you can stock the peels for 3, 4 days in the refrigerator, and then prepare the chutney recipe collecting those peels.

Ingredients Required

I am providing ingredients for the preparation of chutney with peels collected from 1 kilogram of Ridge-Gourd (green vegetable).

• the peels
• red dry chilies (6 chilies)
• mustard seeds (one-and-half spoonful)
• cumin seeds (half of the mustard seeds)
• salt (one flat spoon)
• tamarind (one pod - seedless)
• turmeric (half-spoon)
• oil for frying (one tablespoon)

Instructions for Preparation of Ridge Gourd Chutney

1. Ensure that the peels are not wet. Wetness will decay the preparation quickly and make it foul-smell within 1 or 2 days. So, you can spread the peels on a paper or large plate and leave it to dry for 12 hours or so. If you are preparing it in the evening, you can spread them to dry early in the morning itself.
2. Now, you are going to fry all the above-mentioned ingredients except salt and turmeric. So, light the stove and place a deep-fry pan on it.
3. Drop the oil into the pan and let it heat.
4. Now, put the mustard seeds, cumin, and dry chilies simultaneously into the pan and fry them till you hear the splitting of mustard seeds.
5. Add the peels now and fry them for some time (for 2 minutes) turning them with a spatula so that the ingredients do not get burnt.
6. Now add the tamarind also to it and place a lid on it adjusting the flame to the minimum point.
7. Keep turning the ingredients every minute with the spatula and replacing the lid (for 5 minutes at least).
8. When you see that the peels have turned a slight brownish in color, you can turn off the flame and let it cool.
9. After cooling, put the fried mix into the moxie jar. Add salt and turmeric to it. Grind the mix into a paste. Let the recipe be a bit rough. So do not grind into a smooth paste. Somewhat roughness makes it tasty to your tongue as well providing good digestion.