Ridge gourd dal recipe - Peerkangai dal

Ridge gourd dal | peerkangai paruppu is a simple dal recipe, perfectly accompanies with rice and roti. Ridge gourd, takes place more often in my kitchen always in the form of thogayal. Few days before i got a pack of 4 super fresh ridge gourd from a nearby Indian store. They were tiny and too fresh and i wanted to try out a new recipe using ridge gourd. Already i have posted a andhra style mango dal recipe and tried a recipe similar to this using ridge gourd |peerkangai. It turned out very well and we all enjoyed this for lunch along with hot steamed rice.

Ridge gourd dal recipe

  Preparation Time : 15 mins | Cooking Time : 25 Mins |Serves: 3-4

     Ridge gourd | peerkangai  2 and 1/2 cups (chopped into cubes)
     Toor dal       1/2 cup
     Garlic   5 cloves
     Shallots | small onion   4
     Green chili   2
     Mustard seeds   1/4 tsp
     Oil | ghee   2 tsp
     Curry leaves  few
     Salt   as needed
     Lemon juice    1 tsp
     Turmeric powder   1/2  tsp
     Asafoetida   2 pinches
     
     

Method:

• Peel the ridge gourd and chop them into cubes. Wash the toor dal and cook this with enough water, a pinch of turmeric powder, garlic and onions, in a pressure cooker till 4-5 whistles.
• Mash this with the back of the ladle .

• In a pan add oil or ghee and add mustard seeds, slit green chili and curry leaves.
• Add the chopped ridge gourd, asafoetida,salt and turmeric powder. 
• Cook this by adding 1/4 cup of water. This will get cooked very fast.

• Add the mashed dal to this and add little water to get the right consistency. 
• Once it starts boiling, switch off the flame and add the lemon juice.
• Switch off the flame.

• Ridge gourd dal | peerkangai dal is ready to serve.
• Serve this with rice or roti.

Notes:

1. You can add finely chopped tomatoes to the dal while cooking the dal.
2. If adding tomato, you can skip the lemon.
3. You can use moong dal instead of toor dal. 
4. A handful of channa dal can also be added to get a creamy texture. 
5. Few red chilis or little red chili powder can also be added while tempering.