Dondakaya Gutti Masala

For day four of the marathon, cooking with alphabet “D” is Dondakaya Gutti Masala eka Stuffed Tindora Masala eka Stuffed Ivy Gourd curry. I found todays recipe online almost a decade ago on daawat(dot)com and that page is no longer online. Back then there were very few Indian recipe websites and this is one of the sites I use to refer to very often for new recipes. When I found this recipe, I made it a few times and both of us loved it. Then for some reason I did not cook it for along time, until last week. Preparation is tedious and I decided to stick to less time consuming simple ivy gourd fry.

Dondakaya gutti masala or stuffed ivy gourd is a dry curry in which spiced onion paste is stuffed into the gourd and, sautéed until the gourd is tender and crunchy. Although the stuffing is a little time consuming, the effort is all worth it.

Total Time: 35 – 40 minutes
Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 – 25 minutes
Serves: 2 – 4

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ tbsp. Urad Dal ~ Black Gram
• 2 tsp. Cumin
• 5-7 Dry Red Chilies (About 2 – 3″ long and adjust to taste)
• 1 medium sized Onion chopped or 1 cup chopped Onion
• 1 tsp. Chili Powder (adjust to taste)
• 1 tsp. Salt (this is approx. I did not measure the salt and adjust to taste)
• 3-4 tbsp. Oil (I think 1 used 3 tbsp.)
• 1 lb. Ivy Gourd ~ Dondakaya ~ Tindora

Preparation:

• Take urad dal, cumin & dry chilies in a pan and dry roast them until they are lightly roasted. Let the spices cool. Grind together roasted spices and onion to a fine paste.
• Add chili powder and salt to the paste and mix well.
• Wash ivy gourd and cut off the tips. Cut each gourd lengthwise, ¾th way down, like a”plus”.
• Stuff some onion paste into each gourd and keep aside. There is going to be some left over stuffing and keep it aside.
• Heat oil in a frying pan or a saute pan. Add stuffed ivy gourd and left over stuffing to the pan and saute for 2-4 minutes until the gourd is nicely coated with oil.
• Reduce the heat to medium – medium high, cover and cook for 5-8 minutes until ivy gourd is almost tender. Stir in between to avoid or you could end up with a burnt stuffing or masala.
• Remove the cover and continue to fry it on medium flame until done. Reduce the heat if the masala or the onion paste burns and keep stirring it every few minutes.
• Serve it with rice or with roti.