Poosanikai rasavangi, ash gourd rasavangi is a side dish for lunch made with white pumpkin, fresh ground masala and coconut. The fresh ground masala is specialty in this recipe.

Goes well with poondu kuzhambu. This is also called white pumpkin kootu.
I love the name of this dish poosanikai rasavangi, very tempting for me, but have never tried before.
Asked my mom in law for the recipe, she too was not that sure about it, but my father in law told me this recipe. Goes well with tangy gravies, great accompaniment for rice.
Rasavangi tastes best when had with rice and ghee. The flavour of fresh ground masala reminds of the arachuvitta sambar but with goodness of vegetable in it like a kootu.
You can add moong dal or chana dal in this kootu which I have omitted.
Poosanikai rasavangi recipe
Recipe Cuisine: Indian | Recipe Category: Lunch
Prep Time: 15 mins | Cook time: 20 mins | Serves: 2
Ingredients
- Ash gourd - 2-3 cups, Diced
- Moong dal - 2 tbsp
- Chana dal - 2 tbsp
- Turmeric powder - ¼ tsp
- Salt - As needed
- Curry leaves - 1 sprig
- Tamarind - 1 tsp, measure rounded in a tsp, packed.
To roast and powder
- Fenugreek seeds - ¼ tsp
- Chana dal - 1 tablespoon (You can add urad dal too instead of chana dal)
- Dry coriander seeds - 1 tbsp
- Red chillies - 4
- Asafetida - ¼ tsp
- Grated coconut - ¼ cup
To temper
- Mustard - ½ tsp
- Urad dal - 1 tsp
- Curry leaves - 1 sprig
- Coconut oil - 2 tsp
Method
- Take moong dal and chana dal in a vessel with 1 cup water and in a small bowl, keep tamarind and little water to immerse it in middle of the dal as shown in picture.
2. Pressure cook for 3-4 whistles in medium flame. Once done, keep aside.
Extract thick tamarind pulp from the tamarind. (with not more than ¼ cup water) Since we pressure cook, I use just couple of tablespoon actually.
3. Cut the white pumpkin firstly (½ of a white pumpkin) into 4. Slice off the green skin and the seeds + pith. Slice it thickly, then into strips and then dice it into cubes.
After that, cook ash gourd in water just to immerse it with turmeric, a sprig of curry leaves and salt, till soft. Make sure not to over cook.
4. Then add the tamarind extract and cooked dal.
Roast spices
5. Meanwhile, heat oil in kadai, add fenugreek seeds, asafoetida, red chilli, chana dal, coriander seeds in order. Roast evenly until dal turns golden.
6. After that, add coconut and roast until golden in color. Transfer to a plate.
7. Grind together to a coarse powder firstly. Then add water and grind to a paste.
8. Add this ground paste, stir well and give it a boil.
9. Lastly temper, heat oil and splutter mustard. After that add urad dal and curry leaves.
Mix in to the poosanikai rasavangi. Drizzle some coconut oil for extra flavor.
My notes
- Add tamarind only after ash gourd gets cooked. Otherwise it will not get cooked.
Mix well and serve as an accompaniment for rice.!
sowmya
delicious...nice and spicy..
LG
slurrp! you made me hungry again 🙂
Asha
Photos are gorgeous! Made me reach for the spoon, specially for the first dish! :))
Jaishree
Rasavangi& kuzhambu looks nice & spicy. Awecome pic!
Priya
Oh my god, bunch of gorgeous pics...drooling over the poondu kuzhambu...
Viki Xavier.
Rasavangi and Poondu kulambu lovely combo dear.
Love the way u presented. Yummy.
Happy cook
Wish i gor ashgourd here. I used to love curry made with them.
Your lok so mouthwattering.
Wish i ha dthem with rice.
AnuSriram
Both dishes looks tempting! Deliciously made... I can smell the aroma!
Laavanya
That's exactly how I make puli kuzhambu... delicious and my mom likes it with nallennai too. The rasavangi looks awesome. I'm definitely trying that.. since i usually make olan or morkuzhambu with poosinikai.
Priti
Wow looks so yummy...u come over here for Pongal...but do bring along both these items too 😉
Chitra - spicelover
lovely post and a great combination:)
Cham
Kuzhambu and kootu are perfect combo! The koootu masala sounds tasty!
anudivya
Ahh! So this is how Rasavangi is made! Looks perfect and seems like I will be trying it out sometime.
Vibaas
Ashgourd rasavangi is something new. my mom makes eggplant rasavangi. Will definitely try this as i love ashgourd. Nice pictures, btw.
jeyashrisuresh
we too make this rasavangi and we add bolied kondakadalai or boiled peanuts.poondu kulambhu i too make,as u told if we mix it with rice along with sesame oil it will taste very nice. And as usual the way u cut the veg is really nice
Mahimaa's kitchen
i have been looking for poondu kuzhambu recipe. will bookmark it to try. and rasavangi is also something i wanted to try. both dishes look yummy.
Nithya Praveen
I have heard of Kathirikai Rasavangi not Poosanikai...this is new Rajeshwari.I liked ur detail description along with the snaps.I loved the first snap...its really neat:)
Dershana
I love poondu kulambu, especially with piping hot 'mallipoo' idlis
🙂 Urs looks perfect!
Kitchen Flavours
Wow yummy pics... both the recipes are new to me...
Daily Meals
Bothe the dishes look delicious...
Gita's Kitchen
Thanks for the step by step procedures for the rasavangi...I love poondu kuzambu, I should try out both these soon 🙂
Uma
yummy mouth-watering dishes as always! Have a great weekend.
Yasmeen
Spicy! We call it Kaddu,I like all the spices you used in the curry.The tangy kuzhamdu must taste like heaven with ghee rice:)
Purnima
Rajeswari, whenever u read the previous comment, pls do update method-tamarind. I changed my mind, after the ash. gourd boiled ..i added the tamarind extract, then added the ground coarse pwdr..it was tasty n different ..flavor lent to ashg. from masala was superb! tks for sharing dear!
RAKS KITCHEN
Purnima,
Thanks for pointing out,yes I missed it out!
Now I updated:)
Purnima
Tks!! 😀 But this is gonna make more appearances! 🙂 TKS FOR SHARING!
TBC
I made the ash gourd curry... I just saw that you had another recipe too in this post...:)
TBC
Hey R,
I made this today. It tastes so good! Thanks for the recipe.:D
Laavanya
Hi Raks, I made the poosanikai rasavaangi last night and we really liked it! 🙂 Thanks for a yummy recipe.
RAKS KITCHEN
Thank you for giving feedback Laavanya and TBC,glad that you liked it and taking time to write here:)
Mahi
Hi Raji, I made poosanikkaai rasavaangi some time back. It was yummy! Thanks for sharing a nice and authentic recipe with perfect pics.:)
RAKS KITCHEN
Mahi 🙂 Thanks so much for the feedback 🙂
Jayasri Ravi
Hi Raji, made your poondu kohazmbu today!, we all liked it!, I had an eye on this from a long time, My H was asking me to make poondu rasam, So, I thought why not this! thanks yaar enjoyed it, I like eating poondu but not used to eating it too much, but this one was good, it was not overpowering, It was like Venthya kozhambu, thanks again.
nazreen
really super ...........not only poondu kuzhambu all ur receipe are make to cook more.....
nazreen
Really super .......... i loved it ..
Dhivya prasanna
made poondu kulambu today....it was too good...continue ur good job...
ambika clyton
hi this is ambika
last night i tried ur poondu kuzhambu and cabbage kootu, both came out really good and tasted awesome. we both(myself and my husband)enjoyed each and every bite of onion and garlic.my husband said cabbage kootu was merely same as they do in marriages. usually i use instand sambar powder which is available in local market but this time i prepared the sambar powder u listed, beleive me it really enhanced an additional taste.
i really appreciate u all
thanks
RAKS KITCHEN
Thank you so much 🙂
Jaya
One can only see your passion towards cooking from all this description and pictures. As always "Keep doing the great work "
ar
Did you dry roast or roasted in oil for the ingredients in the table roast and grind in the ash gourd gravy recipe
ar
Did u roast in oil or dry roast the ingredients in the table roast & grind in ash gourd gravy recipe
ar
Did you dry roast or roasted in oil for the ingredients in the table roast and grind in the ash gourd gravy recipe
RAKS KITCHEN
I used 1/2 tsp oil
R Girls
I could never bring my kuzhambu to this consistency..this is amazing defn. will try
Lakshmi Canteen @ Koppa
I tried it today and it came out very good. I also added a very small piece of jaggery. Thanks for the recipe:-)
Dhaya
very nice....tasted very good...pictures tempted me to try this out and came very well...
Dhaya
very nice poondu kulambu...it came well when i tried exactly with what you gave
ENDless Experiences
Lots of hugs to you raji..I made the best poondu kulambhu yesterday
aruna
hey i tried preparing this in electric rice cooker as i stay in hostel but the kolubu is watery.im not getting the thickness.can you please tel me how to get the thickness
RAKS KITCHEN
Try using less water while u prepare tamarind extract. 1/2 tsp rice flour dissolved in 1 tor 2 tablespoon of water may help. Also corn flour can be used for thickening.
Sowmya Sundararajan
Super Raji
bilvapatra
hahahahaha! "Is this honey or kuzhambu?" What love, what joy! Oh the pleasure of being a child, the pleasure of having mother love so crazily..... God bless you!
Viji
Hi Raji
Thanks for your mouthwatering recipies..I am a beginner in cooking and I have tried some of your recipies that turned out great..I am gonna try this poondu kulambu also,but before that I have a doubt whether to add tomato or not..How did u achieve the thickness without adding tomato?I am new to this kara kulambu variety as I belong to southern part of tamilnadu where we use more coconut in our cooking..My MIL in chennai adds pureed tomato to kara kulambu and taht gives the thickness..But the kulambu with more tomato is so tangy and I dont like it so much...I tried potato,brinjal kara kulambu with one tomato and some shallots of onion,but I couldnot achieve the thickness even if i simmer for so many minutes..My kulambu is watery and it tastes sweet..Whats wrong in my kulambu?How to get the thickness like urs...Pls help me,I could not make good kara kulambu for my husband who love it..Pls help me..
RAKS KITCHEN
HI Viji, it depends on your sambar powder. are you using sambar powder or red chilli powder alone? If you use pure red chilli powder, add some coriander powder too for thickness. Also the key is to use more tamarind and more sambar powder wich will give you thickness. Hope this will help you. Also boil for long time until it gets thick.
Subitha Ganesh
Hi...It is amazing. Today only I visited your blog. All items are really great. I will be a regular follower of you. After marriage only I started cooking. Now I started to enjoy it. Basically I am from Kerala.After marriage only I started to taste Tamil Nadu style recepie especially Karaikudi style.
Smitha Jivan
Hi,am not a great cook when it comes to vegetarian dishes.But your recipes inspired me alot and now everyday I cook ur recipes.And happiest part is that my sons strted loving all those .....they even asks me what's the name for each curry!!!!!thanks alot 🙂
Smitha Jivan
Hi, am not great at vegetarian cooking,but your blogs inspired me alot.Now everyday it's your repices I make for dinner.The happiest part is that my kids who were not eating vegetarian started enjoying all the recipes....they even asks me the name of the curry I prepares!!!! Thanks alot:)
Sudarshan
Name of table "to grind" and "temper" to be updated please....
Raks anand
Thanks, will do