Suraikai thuvaiyal, bottle gourd pith thogayal recipe

Suraikai thuvaiyal with center soft portion, tender seeds. Bottle gourd pith can be used for making thogayal, don’t waste it.

Suraikai or bottle gourd is bought rarely at home, I don’t know why I avoid buying. Given the situation, we don’t get air flown veggies from India. So thought of buying bottle gourd as it is available in groceries. But my weekday trials for blog kind of flopped continuously for new post. So thought of making something with suraikai that I bought. I made halwa with it but suddenly idea flashed to try the pith thogayal. I wasn’t sure if the peels also could be used, so just used the pith (soft white portion we discard usually).

Just make sure the veggie is tender, the seeds should be small (young) and not big/ old. Luckily my bottle gourd was having tender seeds, so it workded. This is super simple thogayal, just the basic way I make any thogayal. It’s my trademark ingredient and procedure that i learnt from mom. Didn’t want experiment with the other versions of using tomato, garlic and all those which we don’t use normally.

Dry red chilli, urad dal, asafoetida, tamarind, jaggery and salt,  is the main thing I use for any thogayal. Along with it, I use the sauteed main ingredient. So here it is sorakkai pith.

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Suraikai thuvaiyal recipe

Suraikai thuvaiyal with center soft portion, tender seeds. Bottle gourd pith can be used for making thogayal, don't waste it. 

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Indian, South Indian

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 7 minutes

Servings 4

Cup measurements

Ingredients

• 1 bottle gourd's pith chopped roughly
• 10 dry red chilli medium spice
• 2 tbsp urad dal heaped
• 1/2 tsp tamarind small gooesberry size
• 1/4 tsp asafoetida
• 1/4 tsp jaggery
• 1 tbsp oil
• Salt as needed

Instructions

• Remove the pith of the bottle gourd and chop it roughly.
• In a pan, heat oil. Roast red chilli, urad dal and asafoetida until urad dal turns deep red.
• Remove in a plate for cooling, leaving the oil in the pan itself.
• Add bottle gourd and sautee in the same oil. Sprinkle a pinch of salt for easy cooking.
• Once translucent, remove in plate. Cool down.
• First place roasted red chilli, urad dal, tamarind, asafoetida and salt in the blender. Powder it coarsely.
• Add the sauteed suraikai/ bottle gourd pith and grind, not really smooth but with some texture.

Notes

• I had some bottle gourd pieces too, so added along.
• You can make the same with chopped bottle gourd too.
• For any thogayal, it is important to balance spice, tamarind/ tanginess and salt for perfect taste. So add more tamarind, more chilli. Adjust chilli according to spice level. I added more as I like spicy thogayal.

Suraikai thuvaiyal method:

1. Remove the pith of the bottle gourd and chop it roughly.
2. Take the ingredients needed ready.
3. In a pan, heat oil. Roast red chilli, urad dal and asafoetida until urad dal turns deep red. Remove in a plate for cooling, leaving the oil in the pan itself.
4. Add bottle gourd and sautee in the same oil. Sprinkle a pinch of salt for easy cooking. Once translucent, remove in plate. Cool down.
5. First place roasted red chilli, urad dal, tamarind, asafoetida and salt in the blender. Powder it coarsely.
6. Add the sauteed suraikai/ bottle gourd pith and grind, not really smooth but with some texture. Transfer to serving bowl.

You can mix with rice, drizzle generous sesame oil and enjoy. Goes well as a side to rasam rice, curd rice or sambar rice.