Ridge Gourd Soup (Indian style) to Boost Immunity and Digestion
This recipe is one pot, extremely quick and easy, and yet so delicious. It is super soft on the belly and packed with nutrients to boost immunity.
Servings: 4 people
Cost: $5
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker (Optional)
- Pan
Ingredients
- 3 Large Ridge Gourd
- 2 cloves Garlic optional
- 1 Medium Onion optional
- 1 Medium Tomato
- 2 Sprigs Fresh coriander leaves or cilantro leaves
- 2 tbsp Ghee Replace with pure cooking oil such as Mustard Oil, Sesame Oil, or Coconut Oil of your choice if you do not like Ghee.
- 1 inch Fresh ginger root
- 1 tsp Turmeric Powder
- 1½ tsp Rock salt To taste
- 1 tsp Cumin Seeds
- 1 tsp Coriander Seeds Powder
Instructions
- Wash and peel the ridge gourd. Do not peel and wash but first wash and then peel. This to prevent the water soluble nutrients from running away into waste water.
- Cut horizontally in small – less than half inch pieces. Towards the end the gourd turns thicker, so cut the horizontal pieces once more to make it easy to consume.
- Finely chop Onion, Garlic, Tomato, Coriander leaves, and grate the Ginger.
- Heat the pan/pressure cooker. Add Ghee or cooking oil of your choice.
- Once the ghee is slightly hot, add the cumin seeds and let them splutter.
- Add onion, ginger, and garlic and keep stirring till it turns golden brown (2-3 mins)
- Add salt, turmeric, and coriander powder and stir for another minute.
- Add chopped tomatoes and stir for another 2-3 minutes till the tomatoes turn mushy.
- Add cut gourd and mix well.
- Bring the heat to low, cover the mix, and let it cook for another 10 mins till the vegetables turn soft and mushy.
- Let it cool down. Garnish with chopped coriander.
- Serve with hot chapati or rice. Enjoy!
Notes
We cooked the vegetable in a pressure cooker to make it fast. This gives a further soft texture to the vegetable. If you prefer the crunchy texture, go for a pan instead of a pressure cooker and let the vegetable cook at low heat.
PS: When cooking in pressure cooker, there is no need to add any water as ridge gourd has very high moisture content and releases water when heated. So when you open the pressure cooker, you will get a soup even without adding any water.
When cooking in a pan, you can choose to add water if you want a runny soup. When no water is added to the pan, then a soft and drier version of the vegetable will be made. This works great as a side dish or chutney along with the main course.