Pudalangai Pachadi ~ Snake gourd raita

Snake gourd is always cooked as kootu at home until i found this recipe. This Raita recipe is simple and also tastes good with just plain rice. When i tried this raita for first time, me and hubby loved it a lot and it was finger-licking delicious!

You can either saute the snake gourd or steam cook and add it later to the curd. What makes this raita different is thick curd and the spiciness of the sauteed green chilies.

Ingredients:

Snake gourd / Pudalangai - 2

Green chilly - 4
Thick Curd - 1 cup

For Tempering:

Oil - 1 tsp

Mustard - 1/2 tsp

Urad dal - 1/2 tsp

Chana dal - 1/2 tsp

Dry red chilly - 2

Curry Leaf - 4

For Dressing (optional)

Oil - 1/2 tsp

Chilly powder - 1/4 tsp

Method:

Wash the snake gourd and slit into half. remove the seeds and chop into small pieces.

Slit the green chilly and chop into fine pieces.

Take a cup of curd and whisk it well with a fork spoon or a whisk. set the curd aside.

Heat a pan, add 1 tsp of oil and add in the chopped snake gourd and green chilies. saute them and close the pan with its lid and let the snake gourd get cooked in slow flame for about 5 minutes.

Now in a small tadka pan, add oil and add the mustard, and let it pop. then add the urad dal, chana dal, dry red chilly and curry leaves. once the dal turn into golden color remove the tadka from fire.

When the pudalangai / snake gourd gets cooked, transfer them to the curd, add the tempering also to the curd. add salt to taste and mix well.

For dressing, add 1/ 2 tsp of oil in tadka pan and add little kashmiri chilly powder. give a mix and sprinkle over the raita.

Serve along with plain rice.

Notes:

Make sure you use thick and fresh curd for this raita.
Chana dal me hard to bite for few, so its optional to add chana dal in tadka.