Kovaikai, one of my favorite vegetable. Err pretty much, amma made to eat all veggies at least one serving. So I got used to all vegetables and love them. We usually don’t get Kovaikai in periyakulam, my native. So whenever I go to Madras to my grandma’s place, she used to prepare this for us. Here in US I get them all year around and obviously its one of the staple vegetable in our house. I personally prefer cutting kovaikkai lengthwise. But you can chop them in rounds too. Chopping them lengthwise is slightly time consuming. So I try to chop them over the weekend and store them.
Here is the simple dry curry recipe. I par boil them to aldente. This makes the cooking faster and also it helps to avoid more oil. If you want to avoid microwave cooking, you can drizzle some water and cover and cook till the veggie becomes tender. Also you can add chopped onions to this veggie. IMO, this veggie tastes better without coconut and onion. But both can be added. :-)
Ingredients:
- Kovaikkai – 1/2 pound (wash them and chop them according to your choice)
- Red chilly powder/Sambar powder – 1 tbsp (Usually if I am making kovaikkai along with avial or buttermilk sambhar I use sambhar powder for I go with regular chilly powder)
- Salt – as per taste
- Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp
For Seasoning:
- Oil – 2 tbsps
- Mustard seeds – 1tsp
- Urad dhal – 1tsp
- Channa Dhal– ½ tsp
- Curry leaves – 1 strand
Steps:
- Par boil kovaikkai. I usually microwave it for 10 minutes. Par boiling the veggie helps in using less amount of oil. As I mentioned above, you can cover and cook the veggie till it becomes tender.
- Heat the kadai, and add the oil
- Add mustard seeds, urad dhal, Channa dhal and the curry leaves.
- When they splutter add the boiled kovaikkai.
- Add salt, Chilly powder or sambhar powder and turmeric powder.
- Allow it to cook for 10-12 minutes in medium flame. (Don’t overcook them and don’t add water)
- Keep stirring well for every 2 minutes or so.
- Lower the flame and stir for 5 more minutes to get a nice roasted crust.
- Kovaikkai - 1/2 pound wash them and chop them according to your choice
- Red chilly powder/Sambar powder - 1 tbsp Usually if I am making kovaikkai along with avial or buttermilk sambhar I use sambhar powder for I go with regular chilly powder
- Salt - as per taste
- Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
- Oil – 2 tbsps
- Mustard seeds – 1tsp
- Urad dhal – 1tsp
- Channa Dhal– ½ tsp
- Curry leaves - 1 strand
-
Par boil kovaikkai. I usually microwave it for 10 minutes. Par boiling the veggie helps in using less amount of oil. As I mentioned above, you can cover and cook the veggie till it becomes tender.
-
Heat the kadai, and add the oil
-
Add mustard seeds, urad dhal, Channa dhal and the curry leaves.
-
When they splutter add the boiled kovaikkai.
-
Add salt, Chilly powder or sambhar powder and turmeric powder.
-
Allow it to cook for 10-12 minutes in medium flame. (Don’t overcook them and don’t add water)
-
Keep stirring well for every 2 minutes or so.
-
Lower the flame and stir for 5 more minutes to get a nice roasted crust.
That’s it. Kovaikai curry is ready.
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