A personal favourite of mine…this is again a recipe I learnt from my mother-in-law. This dish is very basic, easy to make in a few steps, and retains a lot of its flavours and nutritional value. This curry goes well with rice.
Dosakaya is a variety of cucumber mainly found in India. It is a staple in Andhra cooking and is used as a main ingredient in dals, curries, chutneys and pickles.
When you are staying outside India, you wouldn’t normally expect to find all the vegetables in the market that you have grown up eating. I have been lucky enough to have stores nearby that stock up on all kinds of Indian foods. So when I saw some cucumbers, I was ecstatic. The first thing I did is make some dosavakaya, which is a pickle made out of cucumbers. The rest I used to make my favourite dosakaya kura.
The ingredients you need to make this curry are:
Dosakayalu or yellow cucumbers – 2 medium-sized
For the tempering:
Cooking oil
Mustard seeds/avalu – 1/4 tsp
Cumin seeds/jeelakarra/jeera – 1/2 tsp
Dry red chillies – 2 broken (optional)
asafoetida/hing/inguva – pinch
Green chillies – 2 to 3 chopped
Curry leaves/karivepaku – few leaves
Turmeric – a pinch
Coriander leaves – few sprigs chopped
Salt – to taste
Peel the skin of cucumbers. Chop into small cubes and keep aside. You could retain some of the seeds or remove them completely. Its your choice.(SEE TIPS)
Heat oil in a pan. When warm add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds. When the seeds splutter, add the red chillies.
Add the asafoetida powder, turmeric, green chillies and curry leaves and keep stirring.
Now add the chopped cucumber pieces and fry on high for few minutes. Turn the heat to low, cover the pan with a lid and allow to cook for sometime till the pieces turn a little soft. Keep stirring and checking in between to make sure the pieces don’t burn.
When the pieces turn soft, add salt and coriander leaves, mix well and allow to cook for a couple of minutes.
Serve hot with rice.
Few Tips:
1. Cucumbers have chance of turning bitter. It is always a good idea to taste cucumbers before preparing any cucumber dish to make sure it is not bitter.
2. I have tried adding red chilli powder to the curry instead of green chillies but did not like it very much. You could still try that though.
3. Removing seeds is the best way to reduce the heat from chillies if you have kids also eating this curry.
