Snake Gourd Chutney / Pudalangai Thuvayal

Snake Gourd is a long narrow soft skinned fruit most popular in the cuisine of South Asia. In Tamil it is called Pudalangai. Chutney or Thuvayal is a condiment / accompaniment to steamed rice with curry. Chutney is made of roasted lentils and spices. This is a variation of chutney where we use snake gourd along with lentils to make spicy tangy chutney. This chutney goes well with hot steamed rice and rasam or dosa. Never tried thuvayal with pudalangai ? what are you waiting for ? I bet everyone at your home is gonna love it

Preparation Time : 10 Min
Cooking Time : 10 Min
Yield : 4 Servings as condiment

 Ingredients

• 2 Snake Gourds tender and young ones
• 2 Tablespoon Grated / sliced fresh brown coconut
• 1 Teaspoon Urad Dal
• 1 Teaspoon Channa Dal
• 2 Tablespoon Ground nut
• 1/2 Teaspoon Cumin Seeds
• 3 Red chillies ( you can use pepper corns if you don't have red chilli )
• 1/2 Tablespoon Sesame Seed oil
• a small pea sized Tamarind ( optional) / Tamarind Pulp
• a pinch of Hing / Asafoetida
• Salt as required 

Seasoning

• 1/4 Teaspoon Oil
• 1/4 Teaspoon Mustard Seeds
• 1/2 Teaspoon Urad Dal
• 2 or 3 Curry Leaves 

Directions

1. Peel and remove skin of snake gourd. Wash them thoroughly and chop them in to small pieces

2. In a microwave safe bowl, add chopped snake gourd, 1/4 Cup water and 1/4 Teaspoon salt and microwave on high for 3 min or until they are cooked half way

3. In a pan on medium heat setting, add oil. When the oil is hot , add ground nuts. Saute for a min and then add urad dal, channa dal and cumin Seeds. Saute everything together till lentils are golden. Now add red chilli, Hing, grated coconut and half cooked snake gourd pieces. Give it a nice stir

4. Reduce the flame to lowest setting / Sim and let it cook for 5 to 6 min. Switch off flame

5. When it is cooled, grind it along with tamarind, 1 Tablespoon water. Thuvayal should be thick in consistency. So add more water if required to grind into a thick grainy paste
6. Tempering : In the same pan we used for sautéing , add 1/4 Teaspoon oil. When the oil is hot add the mustard seeds. when they pop, add udal dal and curry leaves. Fry until golden. Add the tempering to the ground thuvayal / chutney
7. Serve with Steamed rice and Rice. Heavenly !