Do you agree that the second half of the year is detrimental to losing or maintaining weight? Festival after festival, social gatherings, which are of course incomplete without the most delectable food and drink, the fried snacks, the mithai—those of you who can continue getting into your skinny jeans, I humbly bow to thee.
Now, back to wearing the doctor-nutrition coach hat, I’m also going to give you the solution to these second-half-of-the-year woes. Remember this all-important term—high-volume foods. Think watermelon, popped corn, leafy greens, clear soups and members of the gourd family. A low-calorie density means a large plate weight/volume for relatively few calories. Basically, mother nature’s way of tricking your stomach’s stretch receptors into thinking you had a feast, while your calorie count remains at snack level.
In this attempt to add more food to your plate for minimum calories, ridge gourd is your new best friend. At roughly 95% water and barely 20 calories per 100g, it’s practically designed for this exact second-half-of-the-year survival mission. The remaining 5% carries valuable dietary fibre, vitamin C and a good supply of minerals. The fibre in ridge gourd slows digestion and blunts the blood sugar spikes that come from eating it alongside your mithai—not a licence though for that third gulab jamun.
If you are like most discerning foodies, you may go meh at this vegetable we call turai in Hindi and heerekai in Kannada. Here’s where most people go wrong while cooking with ridge gourd: they peel it, boil the life out of it, and end up with a sad, mushy sabzi. Keep some of the texture (and fibre) intact by lightly scraping the peels and not taking it off completely. Also, cook it to retain some of the bite. Pairing it with high-flavour ingredients like mustard oil, raw mango, tamarind, fresh coriander and mint is an easy way to infuse flavour into this inherently bland vegetable.
For me, ridge gourd was the earliest exposure to sustainable cooking. Watching my grandmother make the most delicious chutney (thogayal) using the peels of the ridge gourd, combined with a few lentils and spices, was the perfect example of zero-waste cooking.
Here are some tips to make ridge gourd interesting. Combine it with a hearty ingredient like chana dal and spices like ginger, cumin, black pepper with a generous garnish of coriander. Explore recipes from different cuisines like bhorta (a mash eaten with rice) from West Bengal, or dipped in dosa batter to make heerekai dose. If you want to harness the power of ridge gourd for volume eating, it disappears effortlessly into dals, mixed veg subzis and soups.
HEEREKAI DOSE
Makes 3-4 dose
Ingredients
For the batter
1 cup raw rice
2 tbsp chana dal
2-3 Byadagi red chillies
Half tsp methi seeds
2 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
2-3 tbsp grated coconut
Half tsp turmeric
1 tbsp pressed tamarind flakes
1 tbsp jaggery
1 tsp salt
—
1-2 small-sized tender ridge gourd (without seeds)
1-2 tbsp oil for preparing dosas
Method
Wash and soak the rice and chana dal along with chillies and methi seeds for 4-5 hours. Drain and grind with coriander seeds, cumin seeds, coconut, turmeric, tamarind, jaggery and salt. Batter should be smooth with the consistency of a dosa batter.
Lightly scrape off the sharp ridges of the ridge gourd and cut it into thin slices—around 3mm or a thickness of a 10- rupee coin.
Heat a tava and brush some oil on it. Dip each slice of the ridge gourd in the prepared batter and place on the tava. Keep the slices next to each other so as to prepare a medium-sized circle. If there are gaps between slices, you can fill it up with some batter. Drizzle oil around the sides, cover and let it cook for 3-4 minutes on medium flame. Flip and cook for another 30 seconds on low flame. Serve hot with chutney of your choice. This dosa tastes good as is too.
TAMIL-STYLE RIDGE GOURD CHUTNEY
(Peerkangai thogayal)
Serves 4
Ingredients
2 medium ridge gourds (choose tender variety)
2 tsp oil
1 pinch turmeric
Half tsp mustard seeds
3 dried red chillies
2 tbsp urad dal
Half cup fresh grated coconut
1 small tamarind piece (1-inch piece soaked in 2-3 tbsp hot water)
1 pinch asafoetida
Half tsp salt
For the tempering
1 tsp oil (gingelly oil preferred)
Half tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp urad dal
1 dried red chilli
1 sprig curry leaves
Method
Slice off the top and tail end of the ridge gourd and cut into thin slices—half-cm thick. Heat 1 tsp oil in a large-sized pan and saute the gourd slices with a pinch of turmeric for 4-5 minutes on a high flame. Remove this into a dish and allow to cool. In the same pan, heat 1 tsp oil. Add the mustard seeds, red chillies, urad dal and fry on a medium flame until the dal turns golden.
In a mixer jar, take the sauteed ridge gourd slices and the fried dal, red chilli, mustard seeds mix, along with coconut, tamarind, asafoetida and salt. Grind to a slightly coarse paste. Remove this into a serving bowl
Heat 1 tsp oil in the same pan. Add the mustard seeds, red chilli, urad dal and curry leaves and fry until the dal is golden and crunchy. Transfer this over the thogayal.
Serve the thogayal with hot rice topped with ghee or gingelly oil and vegetable poriyal on the side.
Double Tested is a column on vegetarian cooking, highlighting a single ingredient prepared two ways. Nandita Iyer (@saffrontrail) is a doctor, wellness advocate and author.