Monday, September 4, 2017

Poddale / Snake Gourd Raita.


“Poddale / Snake Gourd Raita ” … A Yummy Ajwain / Oam / Vovon flavoured raita that goes very well with pulav, biryani, khichidi, bisi bele baath, masala baath or any other spicy rice … Snake gourd known as poddale (in konkani) adapts very well on addition to other dishes by blending in with the tastes … As its in season now and had eaten already in form of upkari many times decided to prepare Raita of the same … So here is a yummy and healthy raita that goes well with spicy dishes ......


Raitas usually served as an accompaniment to lunch / dinner with other spicy dishes. Whenever I prepare Biryani or spicy pulavs, Raita is a must in my home. We love having spicy rice dishes with raita rather than with curries. My hubby loves raita with roti too. The curd based salad goes very well with many a dishes. Raita should always be served fresh. Once the beaten curd is added to the cut vegetables, it should be mixed, tempered and served within an hour at maximum period. 

Once the veggies are added to the curds it tends to turn sour. Salt also should be added towards the end. All said and done Raita is a common dish in my home during summer time. I always prepare curds in bulk and store in fridge, so that I can prepare raita, curd rice or other curd dishes without having to worry to go to store to buy the same. I have hardly bought store curds except when I come back from holidays and I need them as culture for preparing curds again. I have already written in my blog about the preparation method of curds. You may check on the same. Do include curds in any form in your daily diet as they are very good for health and for digestion of food in the stomach. 

This raita I prepared with Snake gourd known as poddale (in konkani) Chichinda in hindi Paddulkai in kannada, Padavalanga in Malyalam, Podalangaai in Tamil and Potlakaya in Telugu is dish that is not liked by many people as there are not many dishes that can be prepared with this veggie. Children wrinkle their nose and are hesitant to eat the same. The inner seeds are retained and prepared into thick spicy dosa a common dish in Konkani Saraswat cuisine. I have already posted it in the blog before. Will share the link at the bottom of this recipe. The raita does taste awesome as I added on some fresh ajawain leaves grown at home for added flavour. Do try this out, if you are hesitant to eat snake gourd or fed up with eating the usual bhaji prepared with it. Something different always appeals to taste buds. 

Ingredients :
Snake Gourd / Poddale : 250 gms.
Curds : 1 cup (thick curds)
Ginger : ½ inch piece
Hing / Asafoetida Powder : 1 tsp
Green Chillies : 2-3 cut into pieces
Ajwain / Oam / Vonvo / Carom Leaves : 2-3 fresh one’s
Salt to taste

For Tempering :
Coconut Oil : 1 tsp (or any other oil of your choice).
Urad Dal : 1/ tsp
Jeera / Cumin Sees : ½ tsp
Mustard Seeds / Rai / Sasam : 1 tsp
Curry Leaves

** Wash the snake gourd well using plenty of water. Scrape off with blunt side of the knife the whittish part on top of the poddale / snake gourd. Cut it horizontally into half and remove the inner seeds and keep them aside. You can prepare bajia or sanna polo a spicy dosa that goes very well with these seeds. I have already posted it in the blog. Will share the link at the bottom of this recipe. Now slice the poddale / snake gourd into thin slices. They look like semi circle. Having said this, you can cut them into cube shaped pieces too. I have enclosed a picture of the way I have cut them. In all you should have about 2 cups of the vegetable sliced.

** Wash, drain and put the sliced pieces of poddale in a pressure cooker pan with half cup of water and pressure cook to 2 whistles. Let the pressure drop on its own. Once it has cooled down and you are able to open the lid, remove the lid and let the poddale / snake gourd pieces cool well.

** Drain off the water and add the cooked pieces leaving aside a handful into a mixer grinder along with green chillies chopped to pieces, ginger, ajwain / vovon, hing powder and half a cup of thick curds and grind to a smooth paste. Now add in the remaining half cup of curds and further blend well till all are mixed and combined well. 

** Note : You need to have thick curds, if the curds are not thick put them on a sieve and remove some of the water and use the thick curds.

** Remove the ground poddale / snake gourd curd paste into a bowl, add in the retained cooked pieces of poddale / snake gourd and salt to taste. Mix well. If you find that the raita prepared is too thick for your liking you can add in the drained cooked poddale water and bring it to desired consistency.

** For tempering : Heat coconut oil (Optional, any oil will do) in a small pan, when hot add in urad dal and fry till the colour changes a bit, now add in the jeera and mustard seeds, when they begin to splutter add in the curry leaves, fry for few seconds and pour it over the raita. 


**“Poddale / Snake Gourd Raita ” is now ready to be served as an accompaniment along with any dish of your choice. If at all you have prepared this before hand, do put it in the fridge to avoid the dish going sour. You can prepare this a few hours before serving too and put it in fridge and serve later on. In which case just remove the raita about 20 minutes before serving time from the fridge and keep it aside to loose coolness a little bit. An easy and quick recipe which will be loved by people who love a little bit of sourness in dishes. 

** An earnest Request : For all my Recipes, use the search option or the label section in the Blog. If you are still not able to find it please leave a message in comment section or mail me the same. You can also go to my page (add on the left side of blog) and leave a message and I will try my best to get back to you as soon as possible … Thank you.

** For the Poddale Beeyeche' Sanna Polo / Snake Gourd Seeds Spicy Dosa Recipe, Please check the link give below ....

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