Comments on: Methi Turai Dal (Menthi Beerakaaya Pappu)

By: indra

indra — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 02:39:31 +0000

I like the process of growing methi, will also try the method of cooking it.

By: Supriya

Supriya — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 00:13:18 +0000

Wow! never thought of growing methi..thanks for the tip, Indira…will try now.

By: Narayan

Narayan — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 07:10:48 +0000

A very nice combo – that balances the bitter taste of methi with the sweet taste pf the ridge gourd. In Mumbai, some enterprising people, grow little seedlings on the beach and harvest them when they are perhaps 2 or 3 inches tall, These fresh methi seedlings have tender stems and roots, and so are cooked whole (maybe pinched into 2 parts) into a plain aloo sabji with just jeera, mustard and asafoetida for tempering.

Is Ridge gourd commonly used in Andhra? In Palakkad Iyer cooking, it is rarely used. I know some Tamilians use the peels to make a “Tohayyal” – a chutney of sorts with tamarind, urad dal and coconut.

Thanks Indira for your recipes and lovely pictures as always.

I like that aloo sabji with methi seedlings. My plants are in flowering stage, but I’ll surely make it with my next batch of methi seedlings.
Beera kaaya (ridge gourd, turai) is a very common and popular vegetable in Andhra. We make daal, chutneys (pacchadi), and curries both dry and with sauces with beerakaaya. The peels also make a tasty pacchadi. It is also one of my favorite vegetables, so turai often appears in various avatars at Mahanandi.:)
Thanks Narayan for your good words.
-Indira

By: Piya

Piya — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 04:20:57 +0000

Hi Indra

Your website is amazing, love reading it and incorporating it in my cooking

piya

By: Leena

Leena — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 09:29:48 +0000

Nice info about growing methi…Love the combo of ridge gourd and methi….

By: Lakshmi

Lakshmi — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 13:00:00 +0000

Thanks for the procedure to grow Methi. I haven’t tried growing many vegetables before mainly bcoz I just dont have the green fingers. But I will try again this time. You inspire me a lot for sure.
btw, what is Turai?

By: Kalyani

Kalyani — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 19:34:33 +0000

wow the pappu looks delicious ….

By: Sowmya

Sowmya — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 18:01:52 +0000

Its up now! Thanks Indira garu

By: Kay

Kay — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 17:39:02 +0000

What a combination. I have never tried anything like this before. Can’t wait to cook this during the weekend.

By: Sowmya

Sowmya — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 17:27:58 +0000

Indira garu,

Sorry this is unrelated to the post. I stopped breathing for a few seconds when I tried to open my regular lifeline (http://www.nandyala.org/mahanandi/archives) and it threw up an error

Your old website is the only source of my daily recipes. Please try to fix this as soon as possible. Your new website is relatively new and isn’t as exhaustive as the old one. I was looking for the blackeyed peas recipe

By the way, it throws up a wordpress error which says “Error establishing a database connection”

Thank you!!