Potlakaya kura / snake gouard curry /American cucumber curry
Hi..
potlakaya / snake gourd is one of the tastiest vegetable . In Andhra Pradesh many variety of dishes are made out of this vegetable. The plant is a creeper which gives very long and lean snake gourd..the name snake gourd is arrived from its appearance like snakes…when we touch this vegetable , our hand smell in strong odor which we don't like.. So we usually peel of the skin which is in ash color ..Most of the people will even the seeds..but i love eating the seeds are crunchy and tasty..
Here is the simple snake gourd recipe.
serves : 4 persons || cooking time: 20-30 mints
INGREDIENTS:-
Snake gourd 2 lbs (1 kg) / Potlakayalu
Tomato 1 or 2
Onion 1,medium size
Green chilies 2 or 3 (based on the spiciness of chilies)
Ginger , a small piece
curry leaves few
turmeric powder 1/4tspn
salt and red chili powder to taste
TADKA/TALIMPU/SEASONING:-
Oil 2tspns
dry red chili 1 or 2 , broken into half
garlic cloves 2 , crushed
cumin seeds 1/2 tspn ( jeela karra/jeera)
mustard seeds 1/2 tspn (avalu)
chana dal 1 tspn (pachi senaga pappu)
urad dal 1tspn (minapappu)
PROCEDURE:-
- Peel the skin of the potlakaya/ snake gourd by rubbing gently with knife on the vegetable…but don't use peeler to peel the skin.We just need to remove the thin layer which is in ash color..so just gently rub the knife on the vegetable.
- Wash the vegetables after peeling the skin and cut them into small pieces , also chop the Tomatoes , onion , green chillies and a small piece of ginger ( ginger should be chopped very fine)
- Heat the skillet with 2 spoons of oil, when the oil is hot enough , reduce the stove to sim and add the crushed garlic cloves and saute them for few seconds ..now add the remaining seasoning ingredients such as red chilies , chana dal, urad dal, cumin seeds ,mustard seeds and saute till till mustard seeds crackles.
- Now add chopped onions,green chilies and curry leaves to the seasoning (talimpu) , sauté them till the onions are half cooked..now add the chopped ginger and sauté it for few seconds .
- Now add the chopped tomato and saute it for a minute and add the chopped snake gourd pieces (potalakaya mukkalu) ,also add turmeric powder,salt and red chilli powder based on the green chilies u used to get the correct spiciness to the curry. stir it well once and cover the lid and let it cook. Place the sove in medium flame now.
- Stir the curry occasionally…after 5 to 10 minutes…stir the curry and you can see the water oozed out of the curry…now reduce the flame to sim – medium and let it cook till done..If u feel that the curry is dry without water , you can add 1/4 cup of water to it so that it will cook well.Adjust the seasoning and off the flame when its done.

For once, a simple recipe with easily understandable steps. Great Job !! I made it and ate it already. Tastes superb.
Thank you very much
photos made it easier to understand..
Very nice and easy method. Thank you.
It was simple and yummy. Thanks