Ridge gourd Special

Another typical Maharashtrian meals, a regular thali consisting of dal rice, chapati, veggie curry/bhaji, some spicy chutney and some pickle.

The thali features ridge gourd/Luffa Acutangula sabji. The gourd’s hard peel is taken off. The gourd is then cut into medium pieces and then it follows a standard procedure of cooking bhaji/subji in edible oil.

 

The little green item in the thali is mild chutney made of hard ridges of the ridge gourd. Usually, we used to throw it as wet waste however we recently discovered that it can be used as well. The hard ridges are kibbled in mortar and pestle along with spices and condiments, salt, cumin seeds, some groundnuts & garlic to taste. tempered with hot oil and the chutney is ready. The another spicy looking thing on the plate is called “lunji” and is kind of an instant raw mango pickle. I’ll elaborate on it in another post soon. Till then happy eating.