Chatti Masiyal/Peerkangai Masiyal(Bottle gourd in tangy sauce)

Peerkangai (bottle gourd) has never been on the top of my favorites list. My mother had to tempt me to eat this rather bland veggie using different dishes or just good combos that go well with this dish(so that she can coax me into eating this masked by the other nicer dishes around). Some of these dishes were kootu, thogayal(with the skin) or an occasional(oh by that I mean, once or twice a year!) deep fry with bengal gram.

Soon after my wedding, one morning my mother-in-law announced that she was making a dish with this vegetable.  I neither wanted to eat this vegetable nor tell her I didn’t like it , for the fear of hurting her feelings. So I decide to gulp it and put on a smiling face – till she served it on my plate. Boy oh boy, was this dish great or WAT! I was so completely in love with peerkangai from then on! But sadly, I forgot to get the recipe or even the name of the dish, during that trip.

Recently, when I started finding good(oh yeah, they are mostly in their stale dried best!) peerkangai in the nearby Indian grocery store, I decide to make this delightful dish. I thought I had to first ask for the name of the dish from my hubby before asking my MIL for the recipe for ‘that dish with peerkangai which was heavenly’! The name was-brace yourselves- ‘Chatti Masiyal'(Paste in a pot!). After a few mins of good laugh, I called my MIL and asked her for the recipe.

Here it goes:

Peerkangai, meduim, diced-2 nos

Bengal gram(kadalai paruppu)-2 tbsps

coriander seeds(dhania)-2 tsps

red chillies-4 nos

tamarind pulp-1/4 cup

turmeric-1 tsp

salt-as per taste

For tempering(thadka):

Oil-1/2 tsp

mustard seeds-1/4 tsp

curry leaves-5-6 nos

Asofoetida-a few dashes

Dry roast the bengal gram, coriander seeds and red chillies. Allow it to cool and grind it to a smooth powder. Pressure cook the peerkangai along with turmeric in some water till tender. Mash the vegetable a little. Add the ground powder along with salt and tamarind pulp and some water to get the consistency of thick sambar or pancake batter. Allow the sauce to simmer on medium heat. Heat oil and splutter the mustard seeds, hing and curry leaves. Add the tadka to the sauce and serve with rice and appalum.

A pukka tamilian meal complete with rice, masiyal, poriyal and appalum

P.S: For all ya sistah out there with an absolute distaste for this veggie, try this dish with the red chillies and tamarind turned up a notch than what’s given in the recipe – oh I can already hear you gushin’ about it!