Padavalangai / Snake-gourd Thogayal

Image source : Google images

In Kerala and Tamil nadu we try to make a dry spicy preparation as a 'side' to facilitate the enhancement of taste buds of spicy food lovers.
In the traditional joint family, the number of house members were large and cooking to satisfy everyone's taste-buds would have been a humongous task.

The old people at home would want less spice while some others would love spicy food.

The most ingenious solution, make a bland curry and compensate the spice content with this 'thogayal'.

I had written the recipe of  'Ridge gourd / peechinka thogayal' sometime ago. This thogayal is almost the same. Just replace the ridge gourd / peechinka with the young seeds of the snake gourd / padavalum.
No wasteage!

Ingredients:

Snake gourd seeds - 3 tbsp

Red chilly - 4 or more depending on your spice level

Urad dal / uzhundu - 1 tbsp

Tamarind - 1 cm radius

Jaggery - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Asafoetida powder - 1 tsp heaped

Coconut - 3 tbsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

Method:

Dry fry the red chilly and urad dal seperately till they become light brown. Keep aside.

Heat the oil and add the snake-gourd seeds. Fry on low-medium flame till all the water evaporates. Remove from oil using a slotted spoon and keep aside.

In the left over add the coconut and fry till golden brown.

Cool all the ingredients to room temperature.

In a dry mixer, first grind the coconut, urad dal, red chilles with the salt, asafoetida, jaggery and  tamarind without any water.

Then add the fried seeds and grind into a smooth paste.

If you add water,  the shelf life reduces dramatically. Otherwise this thogayal stays well in room temperature for 2 days without going bad.

Enjoy with rice and/or dosa.